Star Trek: Absolution
by SonOfTed
Summary: On the eve of Bajor's latest step toward Federation membership, an unknown operative emerges from the Romulan Neutral Zone and violates Federation space. Fan fiction utilizing all FIVE Star Trek series! Read me FIRST!
1. Valkyrie

**DISCLAIMER:** _The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come._

**Star Trek: Absolution**

_I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres._

**Chapter I: Valkyrie**

_The shortest distance between two points is a straight line_, the pilot of the Romulan ship thought carefully as she steadied her ship's trembling engines. The vessel was a heavy duty flier usually crewed by at least four Centurions, but so far she was handling the vessel just fine by herself. The _Kh'Aja_'s course continued to take her directly toward the Neutral Zone that separated Romulan space from Federation, and she found herself nervously squeezing another few tenths of a warp factor out of the ship's already protesting engines as its border continued to grow closer. Behind her, the angry moan of the ship's over-taxed engines grew even louder.

The cloaking system was on and functioning but for the most part she considered it useless. The _Kh'Aja_ had taken severe damage during her escape from the Reman penal colony, so even though she could still keep the ship invisible it was leaving a very noticeable trail of irradiated warp plasma. A simple sensor scan of the area would reveal her position almost instantly to her pursuers, if they hadn't already detected the blatantly unbalanced warp signature emanating from the ship's damaged engines.

Despite the reduction needed to top speed, she kept the cloak active because her pursuers would grow suspicious if she didn't. She intended to make it into Federation space alive and leave them far behind her. Once she was gone, it didn't really matter to her anymore how they went about fixing their messed up Empire. That she was willing to leave entirely up to them.

The helm console in front of her beeped as the Neutral Zone grew closer. As the light from the computer systems in front of her cast odd shadows on the contours of her face she turned off the cloaking device and diverted the extra power to the engines. Driven by the antimatter surge, the _Kh'Aja_ accelerated another warp factor and she began to suspect that the warbird whose commander had initially attacked her was now far behind, still lost chasing sensor shadows and subspace transmission echoes.

The situation, however, was far from stable. Once again she checked the distance measurement between her and the edge of the Neutral Zone while briefly pondering the unlikely possibility that no other Romulan ships would be in a position to intercept her before she reached her objective. As the thought crossed her mind an alarm sounded and several proximity indicators on the console next to her began flashing an angry red. In front of her, the ship's sensors detected two D-Type warbirds decloaking as they prepared to cut short her carefully pre-planned journey out of Romulan space.

She had expected resistance but the two ships were both newer and faster than the standard warbirds with which she was most familiar. Her skills at evasive maneuvering sent the _Kh'Aja_ shooting away from them, but not before a random disruptor blast tore into the ship's failing shields. If just one of their torpedoes were to hit home, it would all be over. Instantly.

"_H'Niv_," she cursed angrily, dropping out of warp. "_E'Rin K'rh-T'rll_!" Her fingers danced across the helm controls and she expertly flipped the _Kh'Aja_ on its side before turning the ship sharply on a new heading 90 degrees from her previous course toward the border. "Sorry to disappoint you," said the pilot in delight, feeling a resurgence of confidence for the first time since her ship had touched space. "The Federation is not yet my primary objective."

Her warp drive reactivated and the _Kh'Aja_ leaped toward its new target. She imagined the astonishment on their faces as her ship quickly crossed the _other _Neutral Zone and moved into Klingon territory. A smaller Romulan military vessel had decloaked along that border as well but they had not seriously expected her to choose the tougher route. She fired several disruptor shots into the small ship's shields as she passed, rocking the vessel and leaving its crew temporarily stunned. The powers that be had expected her to aim for the Federation all the way, knowing that incursions into their space would be met first with conversation rather than with weapons fire.

"I don't mean to disappoint you," she mumbled out loud. "But in all honesty there aren't that many habitable planets out this way and I quite simply am going to have to land somewhere with an atmosphere."

Nervously, she took a second to glance over her shoulder at the inside of the older, maintenance needy cruiser that she was flying and found herself seriously doubting that it was stocked with any sort of long-term survival gear. But things were looking up… she had accomplished her goal after all. The warbirds were behind her now and – if they wanted to continue pursuing her they were going to have to do so by following her into Klingon space with no cloaks. Invisibility was still an option open to them, but they would never catch her if they chose it and she could tell by the promptness of their pursuit that they knew it too.

One hand began scanning for the star system she was looking for while the other activated subspace. She had no message to send, just simply began transmitting a static-filled shriek that would act like a beacon and irritate the hell out of any Klingon commander in the immediate vicinity. It wasn't like the warbird commanders planned to contact her… she knew that the time for her to surrender to them had long since passed. A distant star system appeared on her monitor and she immediately altered her course, continuing to parallel the Klingon border as she steered gradually toward her new objective.

"_Vrajh' Nig Ku'Shok_!" a voice screamed out of her receiver. Hastily she tied in the ship's universal translator, extremely curious as to the response that she had provoked. "… _will all pay dearly for this intrusion into Klingon space. Reverse course immediately or you will be fired upon the moment we enter weapons range_."

She chuckled nervously. Considering the gravity of the situation she found the Klingon Captain's mood to be quite acceptable. The Romulan presence here was a serious violation of treaty, and so far he was treating the incident as though it were a daily occurrence. She had expected much more from him and was thus far a little disappointed at his "patience". On her sensors she could see four Klingon ships in front of them, the closest of which was quite simply the largest starship she had ever seen.

The pilot dropped the _Kh'Aja_ out of warp precisely where she had planned… directly next to one of the smaller Klingon vessels. Giving them no time to react she fired the last of her ship's torpedoes, watching them shake the cruiser as both impacted against its shields and exploded. Without hesitation, her next step was to completely shut down her warp drive and reactivate the _Kh'Aja_'s cloaking device.

Before she could, the ship rocked violently back and forth as a series of Klingon phaser shots tore through her remaining shields. The badly depleted deflectors held, however, until her cloak finished activating. Her scanners were picking up a lot of weapons radiation in the area now – with any luck they would be unable to detect her for a few more precious seconds. Quickly she changed course and began angling back toward the Federation Neutral Zone.

"_You were warned_," the Klingon stated ominously. "_I am Captain K'Blinn of the Klingon cruiser_ Mikku_, and I promise you Romulan p'tach that you shall regret the day you chose to violate Imperial Klingon space_."

The warbirds pursuing the _Kh'Aja_ immediately slowed to a complete stop, and she tried to imagine the expression on the faces of both commanders as they hastily debated their next move. Unfortunately for them the Klingons were making the decisions now as all four of their ships moved into an attack formation against the larger two Romulan targets. Grinning, the pilot of the _Kh'Aja_ watched with satisfaction as the Klingons began firing wildly at both Romulan starships and thus played right into her hands.

Both commanders had little choice but to reactivate their cloaking devices – anything else would provoke a major confrontation with the Klingons. That was an incident she knew they simply could not afford right now. The Klingon ships continued to quickly close on the last known positions of the D-type warbirds, randomly firing both torpedoes and phasers. The Romulans were in a race of their own now – it was their job to get back to Romulan space before one of the Klingons got lucky and hit them. Even a glancing blow could possibly disable them, and that would cause even more of a diplomatic incident than they had already created.

Behind them, the _Kh'Aja_ decloaked and fired up its engines, rocketing back into high warp. The course she had chosen this time was very similar to her original heading… directly toward the nearest Neutral Zone beyond which lay the friendly United Federation of Planets and – hopefully – salvation for her. The enemy Klingon ships were totally ignoring her, tempted completely by the larger warbirds. To any ambitious Klingon Captain, they were quite simply a glittering prize too impossible to resist.

She was a bit surprised though when she detected a subspace transmission from one of the Klingon ships. Reviewing the message she noted quickly that one of the Klingon Captains had taken the time to send a warning to the Federation – about her. She cautiously took a deep breath and the acrid smell of burning electrical insulation filled her lungs. The intensity of the odor along with the small fire in one of the ship's computers mounted on the wall next to her were both grim reminders that her journey toward freedom was far from over.

A red light flashed brightly on the navigation board and she noted with grim despair that the cloaking system had finally failed and automatically gone off-line. No more hiding, she thought to herself as she anxiously reviewed her sensor scans of the sector again. The planet she had selected as her personal preference was quite simply too far away… she knew enough about the helm readouts in front of her to realize that the ship's warp field was rapidly beginning to destabilize. The engine behind her sounded as though it were on the verge of exploding in a fiery blast of matter and antimatter annihilation.

"Last option," she said darkly, choosing the next closest star system. The number five planet was habitable and had an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere along with the resources that she would need to survive alone, indefinitely if needed. The computer did not have a lot of information on it other than a catalogue number and a vague reference about being ceded to the Federation by the Klingons in some long forgotten treaty. She didn't really care… it would simply have to do for now.

* * *

Lexi slowly climbed atop the nearest hill and sat down for a rest. He carefully laid his best rifle in the tall grass next to him and paused to take a quick drink from his water canister. On the distant eastern horizon he could see the soft orange glow of the sun just beginning to rise. The early morning chatter of a few early-rising birds could be heard in the distance, but other than that it was a pretty quiet morning. 

His Aunt would be extremely angry if she knew that he had left Vandahar so early in the morning, particularly because he had gone alone. The walled city was virtually impregnable, but no one lived there as long as Lexi had without finding at least one or two secret ways in and out. Hunting was his one true love and he was almost fourteen seasons old already. Soon the military would draft him into service and this simple freedom would not be available to him anymore.

It didn't matter to him whether he got a deer or an antelope, as long as it was a very large buck. He loved the taste of the venison and wanted a set of antlers for the wall in his room back at Aunt Meruh's. Bragging rights for such a trophy were extremely rare for someone as young as Lexi, particularly when the hunt took him into the more dangerous territory where the Mugato prowled. That's one of the reasons his Aunt would be so angry with him – because their fangs contained a powerful poison that could kill a man within hours if not treated properly.

Lexi watched a flock of birds pass over his position and stood up carefully, shouldering the rifle cautiously. In the distance he could see a shelter belt of trees and that, he decided firmly, was where he planned to go next. He would find a soft, comfortable spot to wait and let the animals come to him. Even on a calm, peaceful morning such as this one the land-going animals were easily spooked – there were always other beasts on the hunt in the area and just waiting to catch one of them by surprise. The plant-eating animals had learned almost from birth to keep alert and on the move, otherwise they quickly became an easy meal for one of the local predators.

Another flock of birds passed overhead – more of them and much louder this time. Their soft morning calls had quickly become louder and more agitated… he wondered what was disturbing them. Hesitating, Lexi carefully scanned the area surrounding him and saw nothing but trees and wild grassy hills. He did, however, hear a soft rumble growing slowly louder in the distance. Turning, he was surprised to see a bright, distant dot in the sky growing larger as it quickly moved toward him. A thin dark trail of smoke followed it and he quickly froze in astonishment as he realized that he was looking at some sort of flying machine.

Lexi watched the Romulan shuttle soar over his position and continue its inevitable descent from the sky toward the land below. Parts of the ship were glowing with an eerie green light, while other sections were obviously damaged. Smoke poured from some of the blackened areas and he smelled the bitterness of its scent as the mysterious aircraft passed over the trees he had been planning to hunt in.

"What in the world is that?" he wondered out loud as he watched it disappear behind the trees. He lost sight of the ship and could not tell how much further it traveled through the air, but the sound of it crash landing was very loud and obviously close by. From behind the trees he could see a large column of dark smoke rising into the morning air. Curious, Lexi shouldered his rifle and quickly began running toward the crash site.

There were still fires burning when Lexi reached it and he could see electrical machinery of some sort sparking inside. Large parts of the shuttle had broken off on its initial impact and the ship had obviously rebounded into the air at least once before coming to a stop against a wall of trees. It was lying on its side and he could see a door of some sort wedged partially open. Glancing carefully inside he couldn't see any signs of life. He was about to walk around to the front of the vessel when he heard someone coughing from smoke inhalation.

He was extremely scared, but decided that whoever it was had landed here by accident. That much was apparent by the condition of the ship itself, which obviously couldn't have flown much farther without major repairs. He set his rifle down on the grass and climbed into the opening, carefully watching where he stepped and what he touched. The air inside smelled stale and burnt, and Lexi found the instinct to run welling up inside of him more and more with each passing second. He had to stop and touch one of the consoles next to him in order to steady his balance and found the metal's surface extremely warm to the touch.

"_H'Niv_," someone said, causing him to glance toward the front of the craft. He could see a gray-haired woman sitting in the rightmost of two seats. Again fear welled up inside of him as he noticed her clothing. Although he didn't recognize it he was fairly certain that it was a military uniform of some sort. He knew very well that his home city of Vandahar and the territory immediately surrounding it did not have many friends these days. But he summoned up his courage, then stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder.

She coughed some more and he could see blood on her uniform. The woman was busy unlocking the safety straps that held her firmly in her seat and she whirled her head in surprise at his touch. Lexi didn't have a lot of medical training but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was partially in shock. She tried to stand and move toward him but fell to the floor, dropping what looked like some sort of handgun as she did so. Lexi ignored it, and – helping her to her feet – he began to lead her back toward the partially open doorway behind them.

His mind was a spinning whirl of thoughts as they moved outside the small ship. Rumors of other nations on this world with weapons technology far surpassing theirs had been rampant for years. So had theories about distant visitors from the stars who stopped by now and then to provoke wars amongst his people or steal their precious resources. He had never believed any of them – had never seen anything that remotely convinced him the legends were true. But this sudden, unexpected incident on an otherwise peaceful morning had completely changed his perspective. Lexi stared into the sweaty, soot-covered face of the woman and found himself wondering just where it was she had come from.

Opening his canteen, he offered the woman his water and she drank thirstily, still trying to recover from the shock of the crash. He helped her sit down next to the ship, which was no longer burning despite the long columns of dark black smoke that continued to drift high into the air above them.

"Can you understand me?" Lexi asked, noticing that most of the blood was coming from a cut on her left arm. He took a soft cloth from the hunting vest he wore and pressed it firmly against the wound. "Do you know where you are?" he prompted, trying to keep her conscious. She lay silent for a moment, taking slow deep breaths of the fresh air surrounding them before opening her eyes. The woman looked at him without recognition, but reached out with her right hand and softly stroked his long dark hair. Her fingers moved, this time touching the small red spot painted on his forehead that ranked him among his people as he-who-is-not-yet-a-man.

He offered her more water but she firmly pushed the canteen away and defiantly attempted to stand. Giving in, Lexi helped her to her feet and then tightly tied the cloth around her wound. He was carefully putting the finishing touches on the knot when he noticed the odd look on her face. She was staring past his left shoulder with apprehension in her eyes, and it was then that he noticed the band of soldiers from Vandahar who had quietly moved in behind them.

* * *

"I am Captain Rendu, commissioned to serve in the standing army of His Majesty Apella the 2nd," said one of the soldiers, stepping forward with two others flanking him. He looked Lexi directly in the eyes. "What is your purpose here?" 

Behind Rendu, at least a dozen more soldiers stood at attention with their rifles poised and ready. Most were staring in awe at the still-smoking wreckage of the Romulan shuttle, while the rest curiously studied the woman pilot and the strange looking uniform that she wore.

"My name is Lexi," he said proudly, pointing at his vest. "I left Vandahar to go on an early morning hunt." He looked to the woman, then to her ship and finally back at the Captain. "I am as surprised as you are… it was a normal morning until this huge object suddenly fell out of the sky and crashed here in the trees. I found the woman inside and – since she was injured – I helped her out into the fresh air and treated her injury."

"You've been in… there?" Rendu asked curiously, pointing at the crashed shuttle. He looked at Lexi with extreme suspicion in his gaze and the boy immediately began to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"I heard her coughing from the smoke," he said truthfully. "I didn't want her to die."

"How did you get out of the city?" demanded Rendu. "I'm sure you are aware that Vandahar has a curfew in place designed specifically to protect its citizens."

"I know," Lexi said, turning red. "But when I was a small child I learned of a secret way through one of Vandahar's walls." He paused, noting the Captain's angry reaction. "My Aunt and I eat mostly vegetables," he said with growing anxiety, "And I know from experience that the larger bucks are usually out feeding during the time right after the morning sun rises. So I made up my mind that I was going to bag myself a prize animal this year and add some real meat back into our diets for a time."

One of the Captain's soldiers pointed at the Romulan shuttle. "Could that be one of the vessels we've heard about from the land beyond the Great Ocean to the east?"

"Of course it isn't Balii," Rendu snapped at the man. "We clearly saw the object fall from the sky… it is quite probably another visitor from the stars." He turned and studied the woman carefully. "Is your ship armed?" he asked. "Do you have weapons?"

"_V'Dr'ek Niv_," the woman said angrily.

Although Rendu couldn't understand her he decided that he didn't particularly like the tone of her voice. He grabbed her by the throat. "You are now a prisoner of His Majesty Apella the 2nd. You will accompany us back to our capital city of Vandahar, at which time you will be imprisoned until such time as King Apella either grants you an audience or pronounces summary judgment against you for trespassing upon our lands." He nodded to the two soldiers flanking him and they quickly bound the woman's arms behind her back and snapped a pair of handcuffs on her. Lexi noticed her wince as one of the men took hold of her injured left hand.

"Be careful, she's been injured," he said, looking a bit desperately at Captain Rendu. "She didn't crash here on purpose," he said. "I'm not sure but I think she may need a doctor."

Rendu ignored him and motioned to a couple more of his soldiers. Lexi became even more upset as the two soldiers quickly confiscated his rifle and handcuffed him as well. "You are also under arrest," the Captain stated flatly. "At minimum you are guilty of violating the city's curfew, and I also find it quite possible that you were out here to rendezvous with this enemy spy for dark purposes yet to be determined."

"I was _not_, I was hunting…"

"Yes, you were out here hunting," Rendu snapped. "I heard you the first time and would suggest that you save that story, since you will not have the opportunity to repeat it to anyone in authority until His Majesty's schedule frees up long enough for him to hear your case." He paused with a look of arrogance. "We will also be most interested to hear how you managed to get out of the city without any of my men noticing." Turning, he sharply motioned to the guards holding both prisoners. "Take them back to Vandahar and confine them," he ordered. "Then contact the King's advisors and let them know what we have found out here."

"Yes Captain," replied one of the guards. He gave Lexi a quick shove and both the young man and the female stranger were quickly marched back toward the city. Captain Rendu thoughtfully watched them go before returning his attention to the crashed ship. Small wisps of smoke still drifted idly into the morning air but – for the most part – the flames had all died.

"What do you think, Balii?" he asked one of his soldiers.

"It's unlike anything I have ever seen, sir," the man said with wonder, cautiously reaching out to touch the side of the ship's hull. It's definitely forged metal, but I've never seen anything so large. It _must_ be from one of the nations across the Great Ocean that we've rumors of – no one in our lands could possibly have created it."

Intrigued by Lexi's story, the Captain entered the shuttle through the same partially open hatch that the boy had used. He carefully studied the electronic equipment on the walls inside, noting that some of them still blinked colored lights.

"It is powered by electricity," he said as he continued toward the ship's forward cockpit area. It didn't take him long to find the hand weapon lying on the floor next to the two empty seats. He picked it up with great care and noted that it too had colorful blinking lights on the top of the barrel. A weapon barely larger than his closed fist and somehow it had internal electrical power. The Captain shook his head with delight at this unexpected discovery.

"Are you all right, Captain?" he heard Balii ask.

"Yes, yes I am," he said, opening the pack slung across his shoulder that contained his ammunition and food supplies. He dropped the hand weapon inside and moved back to the hatch at the rear of the shuttle before stepping outside to rejoin his men.

"What do we do with this great find?" Balii wondered.

"For now, we station guards around it," Captain Rendu decided, motioning to four of the remaining soldiers. "I want you, Balii, to take command of these men and set up a guard camp. Make sure no one else comes near this object. I will return to the city with the rest of our men and make a report to the King and his advisors."

"Aye Captain," Balii replied, saluting Rendu with respect. "When will you be back?"

"As soon as we can arrange for enough tools and wagons to take this machine apart and bring it back to the city," the Captain replied. "You may have noticed that it is quite large and heavy." He placed his hands under the edge of the ship's hull and lifted with all of his strength. "It will take most of our horses and wagons to move it… even if we take our time and break it apart into smaller pieces."

"No one will get past us, sir," Balii assured him.

"I know," the Captain replied. "Let your men sleep in shifts and keep a careful eye out. We're a long way from Vandahar's border, but we have no idea how many other people may have seen this object drop from the sky."

"Yes, Captain," Balii replied. He watched Captain Rendu and the remainder of the troops begin moving back toward the city with interest, definitely intrigued as to just what would come of this unexpected discovery on such an otherwise ordinary morning.

_End Chapter I_


	2. Catalyst

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter II: Catalyst**

_Captain's Log, Stardate 55412.7. The _Enterprise_ is on course to Deep Space Station Nine for a critical meeting with the Bajoran government. Since the collapse of the Dominion threat against the Alpha quadrant, Bajor's people have worked steadily to improve the adverse environmental conditions on their planet, most of which are still present from the original occupation of their world by the Cardassian military. During the Dominion war, Bajor's initial petition for Federation membership was voted down by their leaders at the recommendation of Benjamin Sisko. At the time, Captain Sisko was deeply committed to keeping Bajor neutral and out of the conflict. Having always held great respect for the Bajoran people, I am therefore quite pleased to hear that they are ready to resubmit their application._

_While aboard DS9, we also hope to address several other concerns. Of primary importance is the continued presence of the Breen in several of Cardassia's richest planetary systems. Although the Dominion has complied with all terms of the cease-fire agreement that was negotiated with Admiral Ross and Chancellor Martok, the Breen have taken advantage of their brief alliance with the Cardassian Empire and used it as a foothold to conquer and annex part of their territory. Rumor has it that the Cardassians are not at all pleased, and a growing insurgency within their population has threatened to plunge the region back into war. A major part of our mission will be to prevent this from happening, since Cardassia Prime and its member planets have a difficult enough job ahead of them simply rebuilding their society._

* * *

Upon completing the log entry, Jean Luc Picard settled back comfortably in his ready room seat and continued reading Starfleet updates on the Bajoran situation. He shook his head as he read them, remembering back to a time shortly after the Cardassians had first vacated Bajor and officially ended their long-term occupation of the planet. Although tempers were still volatile on both sides, the two governments had moved ahead and eventually signed a peace treaty. The region had actually begun to stabilize for the first time in years, right before the powerful Dominion had reared its ugly head and moved in. 

Now a majority of the Dominion presence had returned to the Gamma quadrant, leaving behind only a few representatives to maintain diplomatic relations. The shape shifter Odo had seen to that… ordered it in fact. Apparently the agreement he had reached with the female changeling who led the attack against the Federation had included passing along to him a good deal – if not all – of her authority.

He was still reading the reports carefully, thoughtfully reviewing the data, when the communications link on his desk sounded.

"_Captain, I'm sorry to disturb you but we just received an urgent communication from Starfleet Command._"

"It's okay, Wil," he said gratefully to his first officer, shoving the paperwork aside with more than a certain amount of pleasure. "I'm simply catching up on the latest status reports from back home. What can I do for you Commander?"

"_The starship_ Rhode Island _is planning to rendezvous with us in one hour_," Riker informed him. "_Admiral Janeway plans to join us for the remainder of our trip to DS9_."

Kathryn Janeway.

Smiling, Picard remembered the first time he had met the woman. She was a powerful, commanding presence to say the least, and people were still talking about the impressive achievements in Starfleet exploration that she and her crew had accomplished during their long journey home from the Delta quadrant. He had spoken with her several times while accepting various assignments for ship and crew, but he didn't really know the newly-commissioned Admiral personally. He was looking optimistically toward the Bajor mission as a unique opportunity to change all that. Even though many former Starfleet Captains historically had difficulty adjusting to an assignment in the Admiralty, he had sensed no such conflict from Janeway. She seemed comfortable and in control no matter what role she played, as long as it was assisting Starfleet in its mission of peaceful exploration.

"It was my understanding that the Admiral wasn't planning to meet with our _Enterprise_ delegation until after we reached the space station."

"_Well she's early_," replied Riker. "_And she has urgently requested to speak with both of us as soon as she arrives_."

"I'll meet you in transporter room three in one hour then," Picard decided. He shut down the link and glanced back toward the stack of reports. "If I have an hour left for reading then there's definitely time for a cup of Earl Grey," he decided firmly.

* * *

Sixty minutes later, two people materialized on the _Enterprise_ transporter platform. Grinning with anticipation, Captain Picard stepped forward and shook the Admiral's hand. 

"Welcome aboard, Admiral," he said warmly, then stepped to one side and allowed Comander Riker to greet her also.

Janeway smiled in return at both men and then gestured toward the Earth Asian standing next to her. He was a handsome looking man with dark black hair. "May I present Captain Harry Kim of the starship _Rhode Island_," she said briskly. "I leaned on him pretty heavily during our time in the Delta quadrant – he's a good man to have around in a crunch." Captain Kim chuckled at her praise and also shook hands with Picard and Riker.

They left the transporter room and entered the outside corridor. There was a conference room located on the same deck and Picard graciously ushered everyone inside, unable to contain his curiosity. "We weren't expecting to see you until we reached Bajor," he commented.

"This is hardly a social call, if that's what you were expecting," Janeway commented.

"It never is," Riker said with a chuckle. "If you're in Starfleet for any length of time, you get used to making schedule changes."

"First let me emphasize that _nothing_ must interfere with our mission to aid Bajor and the Cardassian Empire," she said firmly. "Returning stability to the region is of utmost priority to the Federation Council and undeniably in the best interests of everyone in this quadrant." The Admiral sat down across from Picard at the conference room's table and met his gaze. "That said, we have another situation on our hands which requires _immediate_ attention."

"May I use your computer?" Captain Kim asked.

Riker nodded at him and keyed in his command code, releasing controlled access of the table's workstation. Kim contacted the _Rhode Island_ using his Comm-badge and quickly requested that his first officer upload several computer files into the _Enterprise_ computer. He monitored the data transfer and then displayed a short video clip of what was obviously a Romulan scout vessel of some kind.

The video clip lasted only a few seconds, but clearly showed the Romulan ship firing its disruptors at an unseen target. The ship veered aggressively away from its attack run and was in turn hit by return fire before it disappeared behind the familiar shimmering haze of a cloaking shield. Captain Kim quickly replayed the video again, this time pausing the image of the enemy ship just prior to its evasive turn.

"That sensor record was taken by the Klingon vessel _Kj'Niikuh_ on their side of the border," Janeway began carefully. "The ship trespassed without advance notification and used the Klingon response as a distraction to allow its pilot to evade its Romulan pursuers and cross into Federation space. We have no idea who was aboard or why they would want to come here." She paused, reviewing the situation in her mind once again before continuing. "But the ship achieved its goal… one of our outposts along the border confirmed that it did eventually reach Federation space and crash landed on one of our planets."

Kim used the workstation's screen to display the image of an M-Class planet. It looked very much like Earth, aside from the usual continent and water to land ratio differences.

"This is Stadia, quite possibly the _worst_ planet the pilot could have chosen to crash land on," Captain Kim stated grimly. "Its location historically placed it in disputed territory between the Federation and Klingon Empire. Back in the days when the Organians were still around, the Klingons used the planet as part of a covert effort to slip one segment of its population upgraded weapons and advances in scientific technology. They were going to help the people in one of its villages wage an unbalanced war against the rest of the population. Once their allies took over, they planned to use the victors' loyalty to their Klingon benefactors as an excuse to annex the planet and all of its resources."

"I've heard of this planet," Captain Picard commented dryly. "It's still referenced at the Academy as a clear example of just _how_ difficult it can be to enforce our Prime Directive."

"Exactly," Janeway agreed. "Starfleet can set up all the rules and regulations it wants to in order to protect vulnerable pre-industrial societies, but unfortunately we can't mandate that other advanced societies follow those same rules."

"The planet used to be a society of simple villagers and hill people," continued Kim. "Upon discovering that the Klingons were arming one side with flintlocks, the Federation had no choice but to offer the same advances in firepower to the other half of the planet's population in order to give them a chance to defend themselves and maintain a balance of power."

"Why did they use flintlocks?" asked Riker. "That's a very primitive, unreliable firearm."

"The Klingons were still afraid of Organian interference at the time," Janeway pointed out. "Gunpowder and the flintlock are normally the first advances discovered by a society that is progressing towards industrialization and major advancements in firepower. The Klingon goal was to rapidly advance the people sympathetic to their cause through an accelerated stage of technological development. If the Federation had not intervened, they would have been in a position to bypass the normal evolutionary process that generally takes centuries to complete. Within a few decades, Stadia would have been part of the Klingon Empire."

"With most of its population wiped out by war or corrupted by the outside Klingon influence," Riker said bitterly.

"That's correct," Janeway agreed. "Eventually the Klingons gave up and… after both sides signed the Khitomer Accords they officially ceded the planet to the Federation."

Picard had been listening very closely to the information presented. "So this planet's people, at a crucial point in their history, have had an extra-terrestrial interference in their natural development. Do the planet's current occupants still have knowledge about civilizations from other planets?"

"The actual contact occurred well over a generation ago, but the rumors of visitors from space are still recognizable throughout their entire culture," said Captain Kim. "My predecessor on the _Rhode Island_ spent a lot of time patrolling that area and observing the planet and its people. As is usually the case, two major powers eventually formed. The main continent's northern-most province has a huge, walled capital city called Vandahar. All of the land surrounding it is owned by wealthy upper-class gentlemen who are appointed by and loyal to its King. Almost all of this territory in the north considers itself to be a part of the city and is also popularly referred to by the residents as Vandahar. The Southern province is called Alucarn, and its people have historically had extremely shaky relations with their neighbors to the north."

"The Federation has exercised great patience over the years in an attempt to let the old stories about visitors from the stars gradually turn into legends," continued Janeway. "We figured that was our best chance to minimize the impact of the original, undesired first contact with the planet's population."

"…And suddenly a Romulan shuttle drops out of the sky and confirms everything they've been slowly learning to disregard over the years as simple folklore and tall tales from long ago."

"Exactly, Jean Luc." Janeway stood up and took a moment to glance out one of the conference room's windows at Harry Kim's Nova-Class _Rhode Island_. The smaller starship was flanking the _Enterprise_ to starboard while its crew waited patiently for the return of their Captain. "It is of utmost importance to Starfleet Command that we locate that ship and its crew as soon as possible and get them off of Stadia."

"What is the planet's society like today?" wondered Riker. "If they had flintlocks 100 years ago then I'm rather curious as to how far they've advanced since then on their own."

"The planet's people are living in a typical feudal society. Both provinces are ruled by a King who appoints "vassal" lords to govern the territories surrounding each capital. It is textbook Earth history with one notable exception," Janeway declared, turning back to the table. She sat back down in her chair and carefully placed both hands on the table top in front of her. "Instead of swords and bows, Stadia's people are armed with rifles, handguns and artillery equivalent to the late 19th century on Earth. As things stand now, the only thing preventing Vandahar and Alucarn from an all-out World War is a suitable catalyst to get their conflict started." She paused, noting the deep look of concern on Riker's face.

"And an advanced source of new technology has dropped out of the sky directly into Vandahar's lap," Captain Kim said. "If that isn't a prize worth fighting over, then what is?"

"What a sad development this is," Picard said softly, shaking his head. "To think that this unlikely incident could trigger more useless deaths on that world." He sighed as he took a moment to review their discussion. "And you're right, Admiral. We've got to get the Romulans and their ship off of that planet as soon as possible. But if we send an away team they'll have to identify, locate and capture all Romulans on that planet, along with their ship. The more people we send, the more likely the chance that our presence there will be discovered and the situation will escalate further."

"It would have to be a small, unarmed strike team dressed to resemble the planet's residents," Captain Kim agreed. "That's why we're looking to you and the crew of the _Enterprise_, Captain Picard. My people are primarily cadets… I've only been Captain of the _Rhode Island_ for six months and I don't think that I have the qualified personnel available with the necessary field experience to handle this type of a crisis."

"Harry's ship isn't designed to exceed warp nine for any length of time," Janeway pointed out. "And he's got a cargo hold loaded with supplies that are badly needed on Drakus III – so I'm limiting his involvement in this to support status." She checked the time on the work station closely. "The Romulans have been on Stadia now for almost six hours. I want our response team to be in orbit and on the job within six more."

"An _unarmed_ strike team?" Riker said, sounding a bit concerned.

Janeway nodded at the Commander. "No technology of any kind must leave orbit, which brings me to the other problem we must address. Many of the forest regions on Stadia have dangerous, roaming predators called Mugato. The creatures look very much like the apes on Earth except for their distinct white fur." She displayed a picture of one of the animals on the work station's monitor. "These creatures have enormous strength and sharp fangs that contain a very lethal poison. That's why I chose the _Enterprise_, Jean Luc… because you have a resource at your disposal that most starships do not."

"Mr. Data?" Picard guessed.

"Precisely," the Admiral said with a smile. "I can't think of anyone better suited for this task… provided Harry's Doctor can change his skin and eye color to look human, that is."

"I've already made the preparations," declared Kim. "We can have him altered and dressed in native clothing within thirty minutes."

Picard touched the Comm-badge on his uniform. "Commander Data, please report to shuttle bay two," he said, then cautiously glanced at the Admiral. "I don't like the idea of sending him alone. Data is a valued member of my command crew and we have no idea how many Romulans were on that ship or what its mission is."

"We'll be back from delivering our supplies to Drakus III in less than forty-eight hours," Captain Kim promised. "At that time the _Rhode Island_ will arrive at Stadia and I will provide additional support should Commander Data require it."

"Agreed," Picard said, standing up and shaking the young Captain's hand. He turned to face his first officer. "Commander Riker, please go to the shuttle bay and assign Mr. Data to the _Yellowjacket_. Have him fly it over to the _Rhode Island_, where Captain Kim will brief him further on the details of his assignment."

"No technology of any kind must leave orbit _indeed_," Riker grinned, thinking about the very complex positronic creature that he knew as Data. Nodding to Picard , he quickly left the conference room to carry out the Captain's orders.

"We'll get him as close as we can in my ship while our Doctor makes the necessary cosmetic changes to his skin and eye color," Kim promised. "From there he can take your shuttle the rest of the way. I hope this _Yellowjacket_ is fast."

"It is a state-of-the-art Knighthawk-Class runabout," Picard grinned. "If they had been available back when _Voyager_ first put to space I believe you'd have requested one or two."

"_It's fast!_" Kim and Janeway said at the same time, causing both to chuckle.

* * *

Twenty minutes later found Captain Picard walking slowly down an _Enterprise_ corridor away from the guest quarters he had personally assigned to Admiral Janeway. Together they had watched the _Rhode Island_ warp away on its dual mission, satisfied that the best decision possible had been made quickly enough to minimize the political damage to Stadia's vulnerable political structure. 

Picard still found himself trying to determine just what possible interest the Romulans could have with Stadia. He had been involved in quite a few encounters with the mysterious Vulcanoid race over the years, each time with unpredictable results. One defector he had met had been a disillusioned Admiral confused by faulty intelligence. On another occasion Ambassador Spock had arranged for the legitimate defection of a Romulan Senator and his support staff. He had commented once that it was always a game of chess with them, and this time was certainly no different.

Even though his mind was very actively reviewing this new situation and all of its possibilities, he did remember to take a few minutes out of his schedule to stop by and check in on their other guest. Pausing at a door in the visitor's section, he pressed the entry chime.

"Come in," said a slightly distracted voice from inside. The Captain promptly opened the door and went in, taking a humorous look at the slight disarray of the room.

"Hello Jake," he said to Captain Sisko's son. Jake was seated at the room's desk busily typing away at a work station. Next to him lay half a dozen electronic data pads, each with different ideas displayed on them. He glanced up as the Captain entered and smiled.

"Hi Captain Picard," grinned Jake, shrugging his shoulders. "I hope you'll excuse the mess in here, but I got some ideas for a new book I'm writing and wanted to get them into the computer before I forgot any of the details."

"That's perfectly fine, Mr. Sisko," said the Captain. "You've been working pretty hard on this project of yours, I hear."

"Absolutely," confirmed Jake. "I had the opportunity to get a lot of experience writing first hand news stories during the Federation/Dominion war, so I decided to make my next story longer. I've finally settled on creating a detailed biography of my Dad's life." He shook his head in amazement. "He had quite a storied history, you know."

"I'm very familiar with your father's career," Picard said, sitting down next to Jake. "Have you thought of a title for this story?"

"Of course," Jake said, smiling. "I'm going to call it _Anslem_." He handed the Captain one of his data pads. "Everything my Dad did in life was aimed at helping other people, expanding the peaceful boundaries of the Federation, and obeying his oath to Starfleet."

"He also made a very big difference in the lives of many people on Bajor," pointed out Picard. "I don't think they're ever going to be able to repay their Emissary for his contributions to the betterment of their world."

Jake's face clouded over a little bit. "I wish he didn't have to stay with the prophets. When I was younger I don't think I could have gotten along without him after…"

"…After your Mother died at Wolf 359."

"Yeah," Jake said. "But as I got older I started to feel a lot more independent, and so far I've done pretty well while he's been gone." He paused. "But most nights I really miss him."

"I don't think you should give up on your Father just yet," decided Picard. "After your step-Mother Kasidy told Starfleet that his message to her included a promise to return. I doubt even wormhole aliens will be able to keep him from fulfilling that vow."

"That's one of the reasons I wanted to go back now," Jake said. "I've been staying at Grandpa Joseph's restaurant long enough. I'm right in the middle of writing my new book at a time when a lot of really good things may happen for Bajor. Being back there, with Kasidy and the others… it'll bring back a lot of really great memories. I also haven't seen my little sister Laura in quite a while, so thanks again for letting me hop on board for the trip back."

"Captain Sisko wasn't all that pleased to see me the first time I met him," Picard pointed out, his thoughts drifting back in time. "He blamed me for your Mother's death."

"I know, I remember him saying something about that," Jake said calmly. "But you're talking to a civilian who was in a war zone, Captain. I saw first hand the responsibility that you and your crew bear on your shoulders each and every day. DS9's doctor had no choice but to take me into a battle zone during the Dominion war and I came face to face with my own courage… and cowardice. To face down an enemy like the Jem'Hadar or the Borg… I don't know how you folks in Starfleet manage. I really don't."

Picard reached out and touched the young man reassuringly on his shoulder. Jake started to say something, but the raw emotion that he was feeling got the better of him and he stood up and hugged the Captain tightly. He choked back tears before sitting back down.

"You know, I've never had a son of my own and that's something I shall always regret," the _Enterprise_ Captain said meaningfully. "So until your Father does return you may contact me at any time if you should ever need anything." He smiled as Jake nodded. "After all, I may not run the Federation but I do have a little pull with the people upstairs." Jake chuckled at the bluster in Picard's tone of voice and suddenly they were both laughing.

"Thank you Captain," he said sincerely.

"Tomorrow I'm going to introduce you to our _other_ guest," decided Picard. "We have the famous Admiral Janeway on board, and I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you a story or two about how she and the courageous crew of the _Voyager_ kicked the Borg harder than any other enemy they've faced."

"Yeah, I heard all about that on the local news services back on Earth," Jake said. "Since your crew established in the initial attack on the Federation that the Borg activate an automatic self-destruct sequence upon losing control of their vessel, she decided to take the fight directly to the center of their hive mind while in the Delta quadrant."

"That's right," said Picard confidently. "They roam the galaxy assimilating all kinds of technology from other races, but they're _so scared_ of their enemies taking it from them that they're willing to destroy any or all of their military assets when control of them is compromised. Janeway and her crew got a deadly computer virus _and_ biological neurotoxin into their central hive mind with very catastrophic results. We've been monitoring the Delta quadrant using the same subspace wormhole technology that _Voyager_'s crew field tested during their long-range communications with Starfleet. So far there has been absolutely no sign of any Borg activity."

"I hope they're gone for _good_," Jake said. "Dad would love to hear that."

"If he's with the Prophets in the wormhole then I'm certain that he already knows," Picard decided with certainty. "I've read the reports on his contacts with them and they usually have a pretty good idea of what goes on around them."

"How long until we reach DS9?" Jake asked curiously.

"Oh… another four days at least," the Captain said, standing up and straightening his uniform. "They don't call it Deep Space Nine for nothing, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Jake said pleasantly. "It'll give me some time to really get this story line on my Dad's life all planned out. Then it's just a matter of filling in all of the details."

"Just remember," Picard cautioned him as he opened the door to Jake's quarters. "You were right_ there_ during most of those times, so write the truth… but write from your heart. Create a story that helps the reader really _feel _what it was like to be there, standing beside such a commanding leader and compassionate man."

"I will," Jake promised. He watched the door slide shut behind the Captain and sat there for a few minutes, deep in thought. A couple of changes in his story outline occurred to him and he quickly picked up one of the data pads and began inputting the changes.

_End Chapter II_


	3. Vanishing Act

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter III: Vanishing Act**

King Apella the 2nd made his way slowly down a large flight of stairs and into a private courtyard located near the rear wall of his castle. It was late evening and the overhead sun was just beginning its descent toward the western horizon. A chill breeze was in the air and would no doubt become gradually stronger as the evening moved toward twilight. Shivering from a sudden gust of wind, the King tightened his robe around him.

His beautiful wife Maliya followed curiously behind him with her curly blonde tresses cascading around her face and shoulders. She was still a vision of loveliness after forty seasons, and – watching the sunlight on her face and the light in her blue eyes – he carefully stroked his long graying beard and grumbled something about time and his inability even as King to slow it down. He himself had seen well over sixty seasons, although he was still a very strong and powerfully built man.

"Did General Thadren say what this was about?" he asked his Queen as they reached the bottom of the stairway. He turned and offered a hand to Maliya and gallantly assisted her down to ground level. She pulled her own coat tighter as she shook her head negatively in reply.

"No," she said with an expression as curious as his. "All his messenger told me was that our soldiers have found something vitally important to Vandahar's future."

"It had better be important," said the King with some bluster in his voice. "I still had half a bottle of wine to finish before taking my leave of this day."

They both moved out into the courtyard and recognized three people standing closely in a small group near the outer wall. General Thadren, commander of Vandahar's armed forces was speaking quietly to Captain Rendu. Directly next to the two of them stood Sepenon, the King's trusted Kanutu spiritual advisor.

Thadren was a bull of a man, powerful and strong. Like his King, he too had dark graying hair and was getting on in years. But he still had plans to serve as General of Vandahar's armed forces for many seasons to come. He was a patriot, and Apella held little doubt that his military commander would gladly die for his people if his service in the armed forces required it.

Rendu was shorter, younger and not nearly as well muscled. Like Thadren, he wore a military uniform but had the look of a man who enjoyed paperwork more so than a physical fight. He too had proven to be very reliable, as well as a leader and trusted soldier.

By contrast, Sepenon was tall and thin and wore clothing colored mostly in black and shades of purple. He was quite old and rumored to be nearing 80 seasons, but to look at him one could never guess it. Although his hair was gray, Sepenon's face was nearly free of wrinkles – something of a mystery for someone his age. The King's son Yori regularly asked the wizard for his secret, and each time Sepenon would tell the young prince to pay attention to the special herbs and spices he added to the King's dishes. Many of them had health-enhancing qualities, he would say – and some of them held a little magic as well.

"I heard that you have some news for me this evening General Thadren," said the King cautously as he and Maliya joined the group. His eyes darted down to the small black handgun that Thadren held, noting that it was unlike anything he had seen before. The metal was very sleek and strange – his first impression was that it looked extremely difficult to manufacture. Along the top of the weapon were several bright green lights glittering oddly as he continued to stare at it in wonder.

"Where did you get that?" Maliya asked, also intrigued.

"Some of the soldiers stationed southwest of the city heard a loud noise in the sky early this morning," Thadren replied. He held the device up so both King and Queen could examine it more closely, then nodded at Rendu. "The Captain took a company of soldiers out to investigate and saw a huge mechanical flying object fall from the sky. They found a crash site where this object landed along with a strange woman who was wearing some sort of military uniform."

"She was injured and found by a small boy from our city," said Rendu. "He slipped through our watch posts somehow and claimed to be out hunting."

"Was he truly out hunting?" Sepenon asked suspiciously. "Or did he slip through your guards in order to meet with this woman?"

"I'm reasonably certain that the encounter was an accident," Rendu replied reassuringly. "The object did not appear as though it planned to land where it did – its remains are still laying out there in several large pieces. When we arrived on the scene the boy was giving the woman water and tending to her injuries."

"A machine that flies through the air," Apella said with wonder. "Where is the boy now?"

"He and the woman have both been detained for questioning," stated the Captain. "I had them locked up in the castle prison, figuring that Thadren would want to interrogate them both personally. He will no doubt want to verify the boy's story and also find out who this woman is and where she came from."

"What is that?" Maliya asked, pointing to the handgun held by Thadren. She had been staring at its unique design and winking lights curiously ever since they arrived and could no longer resist asking. "It appears to be powered by electricity."

"I have truly never seen its like," Sepenon said bluntly. "It is a definite threat to us, particularly if there are more like them." His expression clouded with concern. "If Alucarn has begun manufacturing these, we are all in extreme danger."

"Captain Rendu found this in the wreckage of the flying machine," General Thadren said. "It is a hand weapon more powerful than anything I have ever seen before – even more powerful than our largest cannons."

"Really…" Apella said with deepening interest. "How powerful?"

"I've arranged a demonstration for you," said the General warily. He gestured toward the far side of the courtyard where a series of stone blocks had been hastily stacked. They were very similar to the type of stone that had been carefully excavated and used to construct both the castle and city walls. There were three of them, each of which was roughly one meter long, half a meter wide, and one meter tall.

Thadren pointed the weapon at the stack of stone blocks and fired a short burst from the handgun. A flash of green energy traveled instantly from the weapon to its target, splitting the stone block on top of the stack neatly in two. Smoke rose from the damaged stone and one half of it fell to the ground with a loud crunching nose. The General fired the weapon again, this time keeping a sustained burst of energy focused on the second half of the damaged block that still rested on top of the other two.

"Mordra's shade preserve us," Apella gasped as they watched the remnants of the top stone quickly melt into white-hot liquid rock. The molten ore flowed slowly down the sides of the other two stones and burned its way into the grassy-covered ground below, sizzling fiercely as it instantly began to cool. The King felt Maliya's hand grasp his tightly and they both turned away from the stones to face their General in shock.

"The weapon has ten settings," said Thadren informatively as he made some adjustments to the handgun. "That was setting four… this is number six." Again he pointed the weapon at the remaining two blocks and this time fired a three second burst. Both remaining stones glowed bright green and then vanished, leaving a smoking, burning smear pattern in the green grass upon which they had previously rested.

"We are unwilling to test the weapon at its higher settings while still inside the city," pointed out Rendu. "The damage this weapon could do…"

"Just _one_ of these weapons could destroy all of Vandahar," Sepenon snarled angrily. "And we don't know just how many more of them are out there!"

"Or if there are more flying machines," Maliya added.

"That weapon must remain in your care General Thadren," King Apella ordered. "I want you to personally lock it in one of the castle vaults and post armed guards around it at all times. It must _not_, under any circumstances, leave this city. And this information must be kept classified… Alucarn has spies everywhere. No one must know about this until we can determine whether this morning's occurrences precede a military invasion of some sort against our nation."

"No one but the five of us know about the weapon," commented Rendu cautiously. "But the crashed object is another matter. We left armed guards out there and the rest of my squadron returned with me. Many of them were witnesses to the event, and trying to keep everyone from talking about the advanced flying machine that fell from the sky is proving to be impossible."

"The gates to the city opened after sunrise as usual," said Sepenon. "Since some of our guards have already started rumors, many of our city residents have been tempted to journey to the southwest and view this object for themselves." He shook his head in disgust. "Rendu's guards have been chasing them away with the threat of imprisonment, but more have continued to try and go see this flying machine throughout the entire afternoon."

"We wanted to make certain that we knew how much of a threat the object and this weapon are to Vandahar before we approached you, your Majesty," Thadren said respectfully.

"Of course, of course…" Apella said, waving a hand casually to dismiss any concerns they might have about disapproval from their leader. A thought occurred to him. "We have the woman who flew it in custody – what about the object itself? Could we possibly bring it here and hide it somewhere on the castle grounds?"

"The object is _huge_, your Majesty," Thadren commented. "We have assembled a team of horses and wagons and have plans to move it, but I am convinced that we will have to break it into smaller parts first." He held up the handgun for emphasis. "You can see how small and sophisticated this device is – its construction is quite complex. My fear is that once we disassemble the flying machine we will be unable to get it working again once we do store it in a safer location."

"I don't see that we have any choice," said Sepenon cautiously. "We can't leave it out there. As soon as this morning's reports are verified, everyone in the surrounding territory will be making the journey to see this thing."

"Use the cover of night," King Apella decided. "Once the daylight is gone, General, please move your soldiers and horses out. Do whatever is necessary to bring the flying machine into the castle and conceal it from public view." He pointed at the hand weapon. "And lock that thing up until we can assign our mechanical specialists to figure out how it works."

"It will be done as you ask, my King," promised Thadren.

* * *

The _Yellowjacket_ dropped out of warp speed and decelerated to .5c. Moving at half the speed of light, the sophisticated runabout continued its speedy approach into the Stadian system. On the forward viewscreen, Lieutenant Commander Data watched the bright pinpoint that was Stadia's sun grow brighter with each passing second. His fingers rapidly typed in a series of commands and the ship adjusted course to rendezvous with the planet on the far side of the star.

"Computer," he said abruptly, breaking the silence in the ship's cockpit. "Please initiate a detailed scan of this star system. Report immediately any sign of cloaked Romulan ships."

"_Acknowledged_," the ship's computer replied.

As far as Starfleet runabouts were concerned, the _Yellowjacket_ was the largest and most advanced vessel built short of a first class scout ship. Its computer systems were the latest in Federation technology – designed with all the sensor and research equipment available to a deep space probe.

The normal gold coloring had been removed from Data's skin and he was also wearing contact lenses changing his eye color to brown. Sitting in the pilot's seat dressed in simple civilian clothing he looked like a typical, normal humanoid. No one who had not officially met him would ever guess that he was a highly complex positronic-based android. He checked the time chronometer and noted that nearly twelve hours had passed since the Romulan ship had been tracked to and confirmed entering Stadia's atmosphere.

He had been fully briefed on the situation by Captain Kim before leaving the _Rhode Island_. He had also listened to a replay of the recorded conference meeting between the Kim, Picard, Riker and Janeway during the _Yellowjacket_'s warp 9.975 high speed journey to Stadia. Captain Kim had uploaded the relevant computer files into the runabout's computer, and Data had promptly downloaded Admiral Janeway's specific mission objectives into his neural net so that he could begin evaluating the various contingencies that would be needed depending on what he found when the _Yellowjacket_ achieved planetary orbit.

"Computer, display the results," he ordered, watching the information flick quickly across one of the runabout's screens. "Are there any additional Romulan vessels currently hiding in Federation space?"

"_Results are negative at this time_," said the computer. "_Tachyon detection grid in this sector remains fully intact. Neutrino emissions are negative. Starbase outposts 91 and 92 report no further Romulan activity detected near the Federation and Klingon Neutral Zones_."

"Excellent," Data said as his ship settled gently into orbit above Stadia. "Display the projected impact point of the renegade Romulan shuttle on screen."

He watched carefully as an outline of the planet's primary continent appeared. The computer automatically super-imposed the borderlines that defined Vandahar and Alucarn on top of the land mass. He noticed that Alucarn was quite large by comparison, though it was clear from the territories surrounding the captital city that Vandahar was also a major power on the planet. The flight path of the Romulan shuttle began in the upper atmosphere out over the western ocean and ended with an impact point in the largely unpopulated region just to the southwest of Vandahar.

"_Engine containment pod detected to starboard_," said the computer suddenly.

Data verified the information with more than a little satisfaction. Whoever had piloted the Romulan ship was not foolish. He had taken the time to eject the shuttle's engine core upon realizing that a normal, safe landing on the planet's surface had become impossible. If this task had not been completed, the shuttle crash could potentially have generated a cataclysmic explosion on the planet's surface.

"How far is the crash site from the outer edges of Vandahar city?" he asked.

"_Seven point three kilometers_."

"Scan a one hundred kilometer radius surrounding the crash site," was Data's next instruction. "Identify and report all Romulan bio signs." There was a momentary pause as the computer worked quickly to comply.

"_Results negative_," was the unexpected response.

"Elaborate please," he requested.

"_There are no Romulan life signs outside of the city of Vandahar within the perimeter specified. The city itself is populated by at least thirty thousand inhabitants. Life signs within the city limits are therefore indeterminate without a closer survey of the surface_."

"Can you detect the power source from any Romulan disruptors or other advanced electronic equipment within the search area?"

"_There is one disruptor signature inside the city of Vandahar_."

So… if someone had survived the crash then whoever it was had already been captured and most likely taken inside the city walls. This complicated matters slightly, but Data still found no immediate cause for concern.

"Where is the disruptor located?"

"_Currently it is lying in an underground room near a sparsely populated area of the castle grounds situated in the center of the city_."

"Is the disruptor currently within visual range of any of the life signs?"

"_Negative, although there are two life signs standing outside the room in a nearby corridor_," reported the computer.

Data made his first command decision of the mission. "Lock the transporter onto the disruptor signature coordinates and beam the weapon aboard." He watched a small cloth sack tightly tied with a length of twine materialize on the platform behind him and quickly retrieved it, removing the hand gun and stashing the device in a nearby weapons locker. He returned to the cockpit quite satisfied with his progress.

"Scan the crash site again. Is the Romulan ship still there?"

"_Affirmative_."

"Report on humanoid life signs within a four kilometer radius surrounding the crash site."

"_There are five humanoid life signs in the immediate vicinity of the Romulan ship. Twenty additional life signs are located half a kilometer to the northeast. They are moving slowly in a southwesterly direction toward the vessel_."

Data's next command decision was instantaneous. "Computer, set the ship's phasers to level 1. Adjust the beam intensity to one percent."

"_Phasers set_."

"Use a wide disbursement field to fire the phasers and stun all twenty-five life signs."

"_Completed_."

"Are any of the life signs in the target area still conscious?"

"_Negative_."

"What is the projected time until consciousness returns to the stunned individuals?"

"_Twenty one point five minutes_."

Data adjusted the _Yellowjacket_'s course, taking the runabout into the planet's atmosphere in a descent course designed to bring him directly above the crash site. "Computer, please identify and list all unpopulated regions within a one hundred kilometer radius surrounding the Romulan vessel." Once on the surface, he knew that he would have to work quickly.

* * *

While the _Yellowjacket_ hovered lazily above the Romulan ship, Data surveyed the crash site. One of the shuttle's nacelles had broken off and lay cracked and broken behind the vessel. The rest of the ship had struck the surface of the planet hard and rebounded into a wall of trees before coming to an abrupt stop against them. Additional debris was scattered over the entire area in a variety of sizes varying from microscopic to quite large.

Data quickly beamed to the surface and carried the five unconscious soldiers over the crest of the nearest hilltop and out of visual range of his activity. He moved the first four of them two at a time, noting that the entire process took six minutes to complete.

Next the _Enterprise_'s second officer tapped the Comm-badge on his chest and ordered the computer to beam him back aboard the runabout. Activating the _Yellowjacket_'s tractor beam, he swiftly moved the Romulan shuttle well clear of the crash area and gently set it down in the soft grass of a nearby glade. He used his ship's sensors to examine the crash site more closely and identified the outer radius of the debris field.

He manually set the runabout's phasers to a low-power setting and fired them in a wide burst, gradually adjusting their intensity upward. All of the smaller debris vaporized along with the grassy surface of the topsoil, and upon completion of the task he noted that the black, smoking cylinder of the broken nacelle was the only thing left. Adjusting one of the phaser banks to a higher setting, he fired a narrow beam at the blackened nacelle and vaporized it as well. Making one last review of the crash site, he was quite satisfied that it now appeared as though there had been a large prairie fire in the area – nothing more, nothing less.

Again Commander Data beamed down to the planet's surface, the purpose of his latest visit being to return each of the soldiers to their original location. His photographic computer memory allowed him to return each of them exactly where they had fallen from the stun blast. He also took a moment to arrange all five bodies in the same positions that he had initially found them. His internal chronometer told him that fifteen point four minutes had elapsed since he had stunned the men into unconsciousness.

Data tapped his Comm-badge. "Computer, please beam me aboard," he requested, promptly vanishing in a swirl of sparkling blue energy. Once more he sat down in the _Yellowjacket_'s forward cockpit and applied additional power to the ship's maneuvering thrusters. Reactivating the tractor beam, he used its energy to lift the Romulan shuttle back into the air and fired the ship's thrusters. Both ships began to move away in a westerly direction and quickly vanished into the red and orange-hued clouds drifting across the day's setting sun.

* * *

Balii opened his eyes and saw puffy clouds floating in the sky above – he realized with a sudden burst of fear that he was laying flat on his back. The distinctive odor of smoldering grass was everywhere and he quickly sat up and glanced around, completely astonished. The soldier from Vandahar shook his head to clear the sleepy haze from his eyes as he rose to his feet, noticing that there was absolutely no trace of the flying machine that they had stayed behind at Rendu's order to safeguard.

Instead, he found himself standing in a circular patch of blackened prairie grass approximately thirty meters in diameter. The trees against which the unknown object had once rested were burned completely away, with small flames continuing to lick casually at the neighboring trees that remained in the background.

"May Mordra preserve us all," he said in utter disbelief, noting that the rest of his men were slowly rising to their feet – they too were groggy and disoriented. Whatever unseen force that disabled him had affected them also. Stepping forward, he picked up his rifle before carefully scanning the sky and surrounding territory. Nothing out of the ordinary was visible… whatever it was that they had been standing careful watch over for the past twelve and a half hours had completely disappeared.

"What happened?" he heard one of his fellow soldiers ask.

"I don't know," Balii snapped angrily at the man. "Be on your guard, soldier. Whoever attacked us may still be in the area."

"Attacked us? What are you talking about?"

"Do you think that it is an _accident_ we all fell unconscious at the exact same time?" wondered Balii. "It is some form of sorcery, I tell you. Someone has taken our prize from us."

Voices reached their ears, and the soldiers turned to see a crowd of people walking toward them from a nearby hilltop. Most were walking awkwardly, and some of them were whispering excitedly to each other. The group was at least twenty or so, causing Balii to move toward them as they continued to approach his small band of soldiers.

"We heard that an object fell from the sky this morning," one of them said boldly. "We have come to look upon it and see it for ourselves."

Balii felt a surge of hostility rise within him. He and his men had been confronting and turning people away all day long… this was the first time a group of them had actually made it over the hilltop before he could chase them back to their homes. Realizing that he could not change the present situation, he decided to take advantage of it.

"You _fools_," he declared fiercely. "Look around you. There _isn't_ any mysterious object from the sky – someone is obviously playing a practical joke on you. We are investigating the cause of a fire that blazed out of control earlier today, and that is all."

"My brother is one of your soldiers and has _seen_ it!" one of the civilians insisted. "Trailing smoke and fire it was as it traveled across the early morning sky. Some say it was Mordra herself, returning as was foretold to snatch all evil souls from this world and drag them screaming into the next."

"Fairy tales," Balii said smugly. "If what you say is true, then where is this Mordra? I see nothing but a small fire that might have gotten out of hand had we not come by at an opportune time and extinguished it."

"You will see," the man said, pointing a finger at Balii. "We ourselves have already experienced the power that is Mordra, as an unseen force rendered us senseless as we approached you. It is foretold in our ancient writings that she will return one day to judge our people and cleanse them of sin. If you have truly seen the first sign of her return and are concealing it from us, it will do you no good. Mordra _will_ return to us as has been prophesized."

Taking a deep breath, Balii ignored the man. He walked up the hillside and again carefully and meticulously surveyed the countryside, unable to see anything other than grassy-topped hills, plains and sky. Darkness would begin setting in soon, and he knew that a relief party of soldiers would be arriving from Vandahar to replace them.

"What is he going to tell General Thadren?" Balii heard one of his soldiers ask.

"Never mind that," said another. "What is he going to tell the King?"

_What indeed?_ Balii wondered quietly to himself.

* * *

Forty three kilometers west of Vandahar, Commander Data completed installing the Romulan shuttle's cloaking device into the _Yellowjacket_'s engine system. Everything appeared to be working properly using the runabout's warp core as its new power source, but Data still continued to run a steady series of diagnostic tests that he had rapidly programmed specifically to minimize potential problems.

As he worked his mental functions were focused primarily on a complex analysis of the infamous treaty of Algeron that currently prohibited the Federation from using cloaking technology. There were lots of gray areas of course, and he was taking advantage of one of them now. Entering a final sequence of commands into the runabout's engineering console, he activated the cloaking device.

The _Yellowjacket_ and the shuttle setting next to it were in a small, unpopulated valley that he and the ship's sensors had located. With darkness surrounding them, both ships suddenly vanished behind the cloaking screen. Instead of invisibility, however, Data adjusted the cloaking device's parameters and established one of the infamous holographic "duck blinds" that the Federation had taken to utilizing over the years. Morning and the sunlight would return, but anyone who happened to pass by on the ridge above would look down and see a grassy covered hill instead of two alien spacecraft.

He was fairly confident that any such hypothetical observers would fail to recognize the hill as an exact duplicate of the real one located approximately two kilometers to the east. It had been a fairly simple procedure to scan an image of the terrain into the ship's computer as he had passed over it on the way to his current location.

His thoughts returning to the treaty, Data remembered hearing that the Algeron guidelines had been temporarily suspended for the duration of the Dominion threat by a joint agreement between Starfleet and the Romulan Empire. The war was long over but the negotiations continued, and the Romulans were finding it much more difficult this time to restore the original treaty without giving up their own use of the cloaking device. Basically it was a "first strike" weapon and therefore technology difficult to justify by any government that was truly serious about lasting peace. Data intended to make full use of that gray area and the confusion it caused for the remainder of his stay on Stadia.

Finished with his adjustments to the engineering console, he returned to the _Yellowjacket_'s cockpit area and reseated himself behind the helm controls. He displayed and studied a map detailing the layout of the region very carefully, planning his route into Vandahar. It had been more desirable to avoid entering the city but he had no other option left. There was still at least one other alien on the planet – probably captured and held within the city walls – and he intended to find and retrieve _all_ evidence of extra-terrestrial contact before the bulk of the population discovered its presence.

"Computer," he said suddenly. "Please scan and monitor the interior of the _Yellowjacket_ for the next sixty seconds."

"Acknowledged," the computer said in reply.

"I am about to initiate a self-diagnostic subroutine within my neural net," Data continued. "Please record the positronic signature and save a copy of its energy pattern." He sat very still for exactly thirty-four seconds and then activated his internal systems check.

"_Positronic spike detected… pattern recorded_."

As soon as he heard the computer's voice, Data cancelled the subroutine. "What is the maximum distance from which the _Yellowjacket_'s sensors can detect this electronic signature?" he asked curiously.

"_A positronic signature matching the pattern on record is detectable from a maximum range of seventy-two point nine kilometers_."

"Excellent," Data said. "Please extend the sensors to maximum range. The next time you detect this energy pattern, lock on to its source and beam myself and anyone within a one meter radius surrounding me back to the _Yellowjacket_."

"_Acknowledged_."

Data had known that he would need to have a quick escape route planned in case he needed to return to the ship quickly. The electronic activation of his android self-diagnostic subroutine was the perfect solution, since he could now leave his Comm-badge behind. The only technology that he would take with him was… himself.

The Lieutenant Commander stepped up onto the transporter platform, double-checking the coordinates he had set. Energizing the transporter, he beamed himself to a spot just two kilometers west of Vandahar city. There he planned to wait until morning when the city opened its gates. At that time he would approach its people and locate the missing Romulan pilot.

Although most people would consider the progress that he had made remarkable, Data's emotion chip still sparked a small seed of anxiety within his android brain. Before descending into Stadia's atmosphere, he had taken the opportunity to use the _Yellowjacket_'s sensors and record a great deal of data about the two primary nation states – Vandahar and Alucarn. Of growing concern to him were the massive sets of life signs that he had detected concealed in the forest covered hills just to the south of Alucarn's northern border.

There were also advance scouts already secretly probing into the southern regions of Vandahar itself, leaving little doubt in Data's mind that a massive army of soldiers from Alucarn would soon begin marching north. Deciding whether or not he had the authority to intervene and possibly prevent an all-out war was the next command decision that he would have to make.


	4. Countermeasures

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter IV: Countermeasures**

Dr. Julian Bashir sat quietly at his table in Quark's bar, carefully studying information on the electronic data pads lying in front of him. He had been working for months to assemble the pieces of what he playfully referred to as "the jigsaw puzzle" and was starting to finally see the big picture emerging. He couldn't hide his enthusiasm and speedily tapped a new series of calculations into the pad he was holding, a wide smile lighting his face.

"Playing games Doctor?" Quark asked him whimsically, obviously trying to bait the preoccupied physician. He set another cup of water next to Bashir and waited patiently.

"Huh… ohh uhm… actually I'm close to completing some very important work on microscopic cellular repair," he said factually, causing the Ferengi bartender to wince.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt you to start having a little fun again," Quark suggested casually, pointing to the empty glasses in front of the Doctor. "You don't use the holo-suites any more, all you drink is water, and you haven't used the dartboard for weeks. I'm tempted to call Chief O'Brien back on Earth and _pay_ for his travel expenses back to DS9. At least I'd get you two spending some latinum and having fun again."

Slightly annoyed, Julian set his pad down and looked up at the smiling Ferengi. "First of all Ezri and I do use the holo-suites occasionally," he said irritably. "Secondly, plain water is very good for you since it clears out your system. I don't think it would hurt you to choose that as your _own_ beverage once in a while." He enjoyed watching the reaction on Quark's face. "Lastly, Chief O'Brien was the only one who has _ever_ beaten me at darts – when he makes me stand back further, that is – so it's no fun just winning all the time."

"Well you drink all the water you want to," the Ferengi decided. "I'm sticking to the bubblier things in life, and I _don't_ mean root beer." He started to walk away and let Bashir return to his work. As soon as the Doctor's attention was distracted Quark reached over and set a hot fudge sundae under his nose. "Take time to _live_ a little Doctor," he suggested.

"Aren't you supposed to be cheating people at your Dabo table or making illegal back room deals or something?" Julian wondered.

"Are you kidding?" said Quark with disbelief. "General Kira is back on board the station for the upcoming peace conference with the Federation. I think I'll let all the negotiations conclude and watch everyone leave before returning to business as usual. Enjoy the sundae."

Julian continued quietly working and reached for his fresh glass of water. He was about to take a drink and then changed his mind. Grabbing the sundae, he took out a huge spoonful of melting ice cream covered with hot fudge and hungrily began eating. He continued to peck away at the data pad as he savored the treat, and suddenly the look of concentration on his face became one of surprise.

"Did you just say General Kira is on the station?" he said with some surprise, picking up his data pads and heading for the nearest exit.

* * *

She was in Sisko's old office up in Ops when Julian found her. The office was now normally occupied by Starfleet Commander Patrick Hazelton but he had obviously gone off-shift. Nerys was a General now but still the same old Kira that Bashir remembered and had become good friends with over the years. He didn't see her nearly enough anymore but she still looked much like he remembered her. Her hair style was different, but other than that the energetic young woman looked as confident and vibrant as ever. The uniform of a Bajoran military general looked great on her and anyone who didn't know her would plainly be able to see that she was a battle-hardened veteran with lots of combat experience.

The General was speaking with Shakaar, the handsome blonde First Minister of the Bajoran government. Julian caught only a few words here and there as he waited patiently, but it was fairly obvious that they were discussing details regarding the upcoming peace mission. Everyone on board DS9 was extremely excited about the prospect of Bajor joining the United Federation of Planets, and Bashir was quite pleased more and more with each passing day as he continued to observe the positive signs of stability returning to the sector.

"Hello Julian," she said finally, turning to him as Shakaar nodded respectfully and left the office. "It's good to see you again and I'm glad that you took the time to stop by and see me. How are you and your new wife getting along?"

"Ezri is doing very well… I'll be sure to pass along your best wishes," the Doctor said gratefully. He sat down across from her and handed her a data pad. "It's business that brings me to see you, unfortunately… vitally important business at that."

"Microcellular regeneration techniques?" Kira asked with a smile, reading the data on his pad. "Doctor, are you still trying to cure the entire Alpha quadrant?"

"It's the Gamma quadrant this time, actually," he said a bit defensively. "We left some unfinished business over there during our days with Captain Sisko and with your permission I'd like to go back through the wormhole and correct it." He shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat as he decided how best to request what he needed from her. Since it was Kira, he decided straight out was his best play. "I need you and Commander Hazelton to grant me access to the _Defiant_ and a runabout."

Kira could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn't joking. She, however, was looking for something a bit more playful after days of endless, serious peace discussions. "Would you like a couple of Galaxy-Class starships too, while we're at it?"

"I'm serious," he said almost angrily. "And you will be too once you find out what I'm planning to do out there."

The General folded her hands on the desk in front of her, setting them gently next to Sisko's baseball – an object which she had specifically ordered must be left there until the Captain returned for it as he had promised. "Explain it to me then," she requested.

"It all started when the starship _Voyager_ returned to the Alpha quadrant from its long journey back from the Delta quadrant," he said excitedly. "No starship in a hundred years has accumulated as much data so quickly on so many different species… including the Borg."

"The Borg?" Kira's interest in the conversation began to grow a bit.

"Yes," Julian insisted. "You see along the way they separated a human female they encountered from the Borg collective. Her name is 'Seven of Nine' and – upon separation – she became an individual human being again and eventually a valued member of their crew." He leaned forward and tapped a button on the data pad that Kira was holding. The data she was looking at changed and displayed the contents of a new file. "Ever since they've been back Seven has been interviewed repeatedly by Starfleet Command… naturally they want to know everything that she knows about the Borg and their shared collective."

"Nano-probe technology," Kira read off of the data pad.

"Exactly," the Doctor said firmly. "Admiral Janeway is on her way here to take part in the peace negotiations. Since I couldn't get direct access to Seven of Nine I sent the Admiral a message and requested that she send me information on the techniques that they discovered to use nano-probe technology for healing purposes."

"Like the microscopic cellular repair of damaged tissue," Kira said, this time with a definite degree of interest evident in her tone.

"She complied with my request, and also made sure I got the specifications to replicate my own nano-probes," Julian said, failing to hide the enthusiasm in his voice. "I've just finished several weeks of tests on them and am nearly one hundred percent certain that I can cure the Quickening disease that's affecting the Gamma quadrant planet of people that the Dominion poisoned over two hundred years ago."

"I thought you _had_ cured them?"

"I cured their newborn _children_," Julian said. "Unfortunately the antigen that I created only works on unborn fetuses. The current generation of adults will continue to die off prematurely from what they refer to as 'the Blight' unless something additional is done for them. That's what I want the runabout for… I can send a Bajoran Doctor and some of my staff to treat them with my modified nano-probes. Once each of them receives a simple injection, the Quickening disease should be completely gone from their systems within a matter of minutes."

Kira considered his words carefully. "Okay, I agree that you have come to me with a reasonable request Doctor," she said. "I'll assign the team you choose to take the _Ucayali_ into the Gamma quadrant and cure those people." She leaned forward with a mischievous look on her face and stared him in the eyes. "Now then…" she said with deepening interest. "What do you want the _Defiant_ for?"

"We still have a few days before the _Enterprise_ arrives. I need a starship because where I'm going we'll need weapons," he began slowly, returning her gaze with interest. "And since you were with me on this other planet, I would think that with Bajor's newest peace effort so well underway you'd know exactly who I'm planning to go and get and why it is so vitally important that we try and bring her back – particularly now."

He watched all of the mischief vanish from her expression as it dawned on her just what it was he was proposing. "Are you telling me…?" she started to say.

"Yes I am," Julian replied. "All I need in order to bring Kai Opaka back to Bajor is a starship to clear the armed satellites orbiting the moon we left her on in the Gamma quadrant. Once we're back on the surface, taking care of the automated bio-technology that requires her to stay there will be a piece of cake for my modified nano-probes."

Kira stared in complete shock at the Doctor for a moment, leaving Julian feeling quite enthused. When he had first met her she had thought he was a high strung emotional basket case. To have this opportunity to demonstrate to her the vast possibilities available to them with modern medical techniques and his personal skills at applying them, well… it pleased him more than any compliment he had ever received.

"Request granted Doctor," said General Kira softly.

* * *

Mere hours later, the General herself sat in the command seat of the _Defiant_ as the starship's weapons finished destroying the last of the armed satellites in orbit above the small moon. Lieutenant Nog smiled from behind the helm console as he adjusted the ship's course into a geo-synchronous orbit above the life signs detected below.

"Final orbit achieved General," the Ferengi officer reported with satisfaction.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Kira asked curiously. "Why didn't we come back?

Julian was standing directly behind her. "Because until now there was nothing we further we could do for her," he said softly. "Do you think she's still down there?" They watched the moon's image on the starship's viewscreen. "If so, I wonder what she's managed to accomplish with the Ennis and the Nol-Ennis. They were still quite dedicated to unending violence the last time that we saw them."

"There's only one way to find out," the General said as she stood up and turned to face Julian. "Ezri can come with us… Nog, you have the bridge." Without a further word she headed for the transporter room. Ezri cast a hopeful look at Julian and he squeezed her hand reassuringly as they both followed Kira into the turbolift.

They materialized next to the wreckage of the _Yangtzee Kiang_, which was still lying undisturbed right where Julian, then Commander Sisko and Kira had left it. Ezri glanced at it thoughtfully but noticed immediately the expressions on the faces of Julian and Kira. Even without counseling skills, it was obvious to her simply by observation that the sight of the destroyed runabout brought back lots of memories for the other two members of her landing party. Even though she personally had never been on the planet, her Trill symbiont also had memories of the incident, since Jadzia and Miles O'Brien had eventually ended up rescuing the stranded party from orbit using a second runabout.

"Where is everybody?" Ezri asked cautiously.

"We beamed here first intentionally," replied Kira. "The last time we visited this place the people on this planet were involved in an endless, brutal war. Their bodies were instantly healed by the automated systems on this planet as fast as they could kill each other. If we get caught in the middle of it death is not the worst thing that can happen to us."

"No it certainly is not," Julian said, scanning the area with his tricorder. "The bio-technology is still active and functioning – any injuries sustained on this moon are still being instantly detected and repaired, with the additional penance of making the healed person completely dependent upon this environment."

"That's why we left her here," Kira said as her expression clouded over. "Because we had to. That… and because she _insisted_ that it was prophecy that she should be left here."

Doctor Bashir pointed off toward the west and they began walking casually in that direction. There were no sounds in the wooded area that they entered other than a few calling birds, so they continued moving toward the large cave where they had last seen the Kai. They didn't find anyone in that area either so they headed directly toward the life sign indications on Julian's medical tricorder.

They came to the edge of the forest and walked out onto a flat plain before immediately pausing in awe. Row after row of growing crops lined the area in front of them… it looked as though they had inadvertently walked onto someone's farm. Off in the distance they could see several dozen wooden cabins, most of which had a large chimney from which spirals of black smoke rose lazily into the air. Still there was no sign of anyone and they curiously continued walking through the crop fields toward the cabins.

"_Kira_…"

They spun around and there she was… Kai Opaka with an astonished look on her face and a basket of crops she had picked held tightly in her hands. She was dressed in native clothing rather than the familiar purple robes that she had worn back on Bajor. Her face, neck and arms were covered with partially healed scars from old injuries, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was her. Kira ran forward as the Kai dropped her basket in shock and the two hugged for a long time, reunited at last.

"It's so good to see you again Opaka," Kira said finally, stepping back and smiling with delight. "I've been thinking about you over the years and planning to come back…"

"The Prophets finally decided that they were ready for us to reunite," Opaka decided.

"Where are the others?" Bashir asked. "The Ennis and the Nol-Ennis? My tricorder indicates that there are lots of other life signs close by."

"The Ennis and Nol-Ennis are no more," Opaka declared proudly as she picked up her basket and began scooping some of the fallen wheat back into it. "The people on this moon speak to each other with respect now, using each person's individual name." Glancing from Kira to Bashir she smiled. "Some are still asleep and the rest are out hunting… we were preparing a celebration this evening in honor of the lasting peace that we have established here."

"What a beautiful community," Ezri commented as she looked first to the rows of crops and then to the cabins in the distance. "Considering what this place was like when you first arrived, I think you've done a remarkable job."

"Thank you," Opaka said, bowing her head slightly. "But it did not come without cost. The violence continued for quite some time after my arrival. It isn't something that I can ever forget." _Fresh red blood was running down the knife blade and spattering onto the ground below, but she held firm – determined that this time there would be a difference_… They watched the distant expression that had formed on her scarred face. "The peace did not come without cost," she repeated slowly, remembering...

* * *

_… How difficult it had been after her friends had just left. Commander Sisko, Dr. Bashir and Kira had just beamed aboard the second runabout and were on their way back through the wormhole to Deep Space Nine. She, on the other hand, was trapped here – quite probably for the rest of her life. The sounds of fighting from outside the cave entrance continued and she cringed from it. She remembered watching Golin Shel-la, leader of the Ennis, as he finished screaming at Sisko's party right before they vanished. Realizing they were leaving whether or not they agreed with him, he hefted his large spear with the curved blade at its tip and rushed to join the battle. He was determined to keep his vow to destroy the Nol-Ennis once and for all._

_That had been his way on their home world, too, and the rest of its population had grown sick of it. Not only had they transplanted both sides of the struggle to this small moon but they had put in place the bio-technology to keep them all alive – even without food – indefinitely. Here they were free to fight over and over again, never accomplishing anything as the dead and wounded were almost instantaneously healed and reborn to fight again._

_She remembered her last words to Sisko vividly._ "My work is here now, Commander. But your pah and mine will cross again_." Just moments after she had said that, one of the injured Ennis had staggered back into the cave in front of her, blood running from a large cut on her neck. The Kai had stepped forward and held the dying woman in her arms, then watched the cut heal itself and "magically" restore the injured woman to life._

_The endless battles had gone on that way for weeks or months – she hadn't kept track. All she remembered were the endless visits to the side of soldiers who lay dying from cuts or traumatic blows to the skull. They would lay there, suffering, and she would hold their hand or sing to them until they passed away and the bio-technology's instant-heal process would activate and bring them back to life._

_It didn't matter whether they were Ennis or Nol-Ennis, she had comforted them all at one time or another. That had really baffled Zlangco at first, who was leader of the Nol-Ennis. He was ravaged by paranoia and had convinced himself and his followers that the newcomers from space had arrived solely to aid the Ennis. Onward they had continued fighting, battle after battle after battle… Opaka had grown used to the sight of brutal and bloody wounds as the fighting continued all through the days and nights._

_After the first couple of weeks she had ceased to comfort the dying and instead had focused her efforts on talking directly to the still-living warriors who were busy hacking and stabbing and chopping at each other. She would tell them how stupid they were – what a terrible legacy of violence that they had set. The Kai had also spoken of children and chastised both sides for daring to set such a bad example for the young people back on their home world._

_Her patience and persistence were both unmatched. Two people would be standing before her, locked in combat, and she would continue calling them names and telling them that they deserved every second that they lived on this moon. Eternal damnation was too good for them, she added, and in her opinion the people who marooned both sides here should have thought of something even harsher to punish them with._

_Some of the evenings she spent hiding in the cave, gathering herself in preparation for what was to come. The angry words she continued to say to the combatants as they clashed were finally working and eventually their intense anger began to redirect itself at her. At first they killed her right away, cutting her throat or stabbing her in the chest. But they grew quickly tired of that idea since the moon's automated systems would simply heal her in time to rise and resume her verbal tongue-lashing of the last few people to survive during each clash._

_They developed a new game – the last person standing got to kill "the Nik". That was the name they eventually chose for her… short for peace-nik. They tried to intimidate her back into the cave and… at first it worked. Then she would come boldly walking out and_ choose _the person that she wanted to survive and deliver the death blow, turning their game back around on them by rooting each time for one person to survive over all the rest. They still killed her for awhile – the survivor would walk toward her grinning and hold up a blood-soaked knife or spear and simply execute her on the spot. Then the technology would kick in and heal everyone and they would begin their sick game all over again._

_Opaka didn't know_ how _things would ever change – only that they_ would_. She continued watching the battles, waiting for the inevitable victor to walk over and deliver the death blow. One night in particular things just suddenly seemed to fall into place. Zlangco was the last to stand and he glanced over at her as the opponent in front of him fell dead to the ground. His sneer was victory enough, but he savagely looked at the sky and screamed in victory._

_"The Nik will receive an honor tonight," he gloated, walking toward her with his bloodied spear. "Usually the leaders are the first ones targeted but tonight I get the honor of shutting your mouth!" He strutted around in front of her while the others groaned, healed, and began sitting up. Leaning over, Zlangco stared directly into her eyes with a malevolence that made her shudder deep down. He turned his back on her and began encouraging the others to watch, telling them how great a warrior he was. That was when Opaka simply knew exactly what it was she had to do._

_Rising from her seated position where she had been observing the latest fight, she picked up a knife with a blade dulled from too many battles and rust-colored from dried blood. With no emotion on her face she stepped forward and rammed it into Zlangco's back, piercing his flesh instantly and driving the knife home up to its hilt. She pulled the weapon out again, causing him to cough in surprise from the damage to one of his lungs. He turned to face her, stunned beyond words. The others were also standing or sitting in disbelief and watched the Nol leader stagger toward a tree. Slumping up against it, he sank to his knees and died right there on the spot._

_Moments later he was up again, healed once more by the moon's hidden technology. She stepped forward in front of all of them and held up her weapon._ Fresh red blood was running down the knife blade and spattering onto the ground below, but she held firm – determined that this time there would be a difference…

_"I have devoted my life to peace, compassion and healing – the complete opposite of your philosophy," she said. "And now you have turned me from what I was into one of you. I am now just like you – as brutal a killer as I have accused you over and over of being. So I want you to think carefully and look inside yourselves_… for if I can become one of you then is it not at least possible that you can travel in the opposite direction and become like me?"

_Tired and worn out from their endless battles they had listened… really listened to her this time. She had talked for hours about the world she came from, how peaceful its philosophy was and how good its people were. The Bajorans had killed too, she pointed out, but for self defense and survival. Eventually some of the people had begun to ask her questions, which she promptly answered. They still fought battles from time to time, but her attack against Zlangco proved to be the turning point that finally moved both sides on a path away from their endless cycle of violence. She took the time to learn all of their names and addressed them as such – in no time at all they were calling her Opaka or Kai – the "Nik" reference completely disappeared._

_They didn't need food or water to survive but she began to teach them simple farming techniques. Their first foray was into the woods, where she offered some of them some berries from a line of bushes at the forest's edge – they ate hungrily, barely remembering ever doing it before. Again it took a long time, but her efforts this time focused on dissolving the useless tribe titles of Ennis and Nol-Ennis from the moon's inhabitants and establishing each as a unique living individual. She insisted that they refer to each other using each person's proper name rather than the original group that he or she had originally belonged to. The "Ennis" and "Nol-Ennis" terms also quickly disappeared from their vocabulary._

_That was about the time that she taught them to begin choosing some of the plants in the forest whose taste they specifically liked and grow their own food. Shortly after that, she stood alongside them as they began cutting down the trees and helped them build cabins for shelter. The cave where she had hidden for so many lonesome nights shivering in fear became a distant memory. She told them a lot about Bajor and its people, how she had watched her world as it was occupied by cruel and evil people. When they had finally left it had been the most joyous day of her entire life – now equaled only by her successful peace effort between the moon's former violent inhabitants._

_They continued to ask her questions, and she discovered that – much to her surprise – she had gone through an amazing transformation also. When she had first landed on the moon, her efforts had been directed at assisting Kira Nerys in transitioning from a violent terrorist back into a normal, law abiding citizen. She had offered good advice to the young woman, true, but had never fully realized just what the Major had to live with until that fateful night when Opaka had picked up a knife and used it to kill. Back where she came from, dead people didn't automatically revive after a few minutes and start walking around again. Actually committing the act of murder had been a revelation for her – and changed her a little forever too…

* * *

_

"Opaka, are you okay?" General Kira asked as she noticed the Kai obviously reliving some very vivid and brutal memories. "Would you like to sit down?"

"No child, I am fine," Opaka insisted as Bashir pressed a hypo-spray against her bare arm. The device hissed as it injected his modified nano-probes into her system. He replaced the hypo in his medical kit and quickly began studying her physiology with his medical tricorder.

"The bio-technology is being neutralized. She'll be able to leave the moon's surface within half an hour," Julian said optimistically. He felt Ezri squeeze his shoulder to comfort him and he smiled at the battle-worn Kai. "Once we get you back to the station we can use our medical equipment to get rid of most of your scar tissue. We'll have you looking and feeling like your old self in no time."

"How about the others?" Kira asked. "We have the capability to cure them too. The _Defiant_ has enough room for everyone. We can take them off of this moon and relocate them somewhere else… on any available planet that they choose."

"Doctor, please neutralize the bio-technology in their systems so that they can live out the remainder of a normal life. But their decision will be to stay," Opaka predicted. "They have worked long and hard to make this place a home instead of a war zone. I would never have believed it when I first stayed behind, but my work here _is_ finally done. This is where they belong now – it is their home."

"Thanks to you," Kira said, hugging the Kai again. "Bajor will rejoice at your return."

"They had better," Kai Opaka decided, a wisp of a smile forming on her lips. "I _have_ been gone for a long time, after all."


	5. Secrets New And One Revealed

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter V: Secrets New And One Revealed**

The rain started just before morning. By the time the sun rose the trees and brush in which Data hid were soaked and dripping from the continual downpour. Noting that the time when Vandahar's gates were due to open was drawing closer, he decided to leave the woods behind and began walking until he located the nearest dirt road. From there he planned to follow the path all the way in to the outer city wall.

He didn't see anyone else at first but expected to begin noticing people and horse-drawn carts at any time. Folks who lived in pre-industrial farming communities were usually up pretty early preparing to buy and sell goods – he expected a rainy day to be no different. The rain itself let up some as he continued for the next half kilometer or so and he would have made it all the way to the city itself if he hadn't heard an animal scream in the distance. Somewhere not too far to the north of him was the distinctive sound of a prowling mugato.

The sound of gunshots surprised him, since the Starfleet reports he had memorized made special mention of the fact that the animals were almost never hunted – they were predators that were shunned and avoided for the most part due to their deadly poison. The screaming became a pained yowling and then suddenly silence returned to the rainy morning.

His curiosity raised, Data left the dirt road and began hiking north toward the sound of the noise. He entered another length of trees that bordered the woods near the city and began a quick search of the area. Another gunshot sounded and he immediately identified its source and began running toward it. Breaking through the line of trees he spotted a small hill in the distance at the base of which lay a bloody white-furred mugato. The animal had taken several bullet wounds and two soldiers stood nearby, while a third was bent over the beast and doing something unseen to its mouth and snout.

"Hey!" Data shouted at them. "What is going on here?"

The soldier nearest the mugato stood up with a panicked expression on his face. Motioning to the other two, they leveled their weapons at Data and quickly retreated into the forest and were gone. Extremely puzzled, the android walked over to the mugato and carefully checked it for life signs. Unfortunately he had not arrived in time to save it, nor was he able to identify any obvious reason why soldiers from Vandhar would kill it.

A twinge of electronic frustration filtered into his positronic brain and he considered pursuing the soldiers. Ultimately he decided that his primary objective was more important and headed back toward the dirt road behind him. Still – he thought very carefully to himself – the fact that the soldiers had retreated upon discovery prompted him to conclude that their purpose had not been sanctioned by Vandahar's commanding officers. If it had been, they would have simply confronted him and chased him away rather than retreat in fright upon discovery.

* * *

By the time he neared the city the rain had stopped and the fog was beginning to lift, melting away as fast as the early morning sunlight grew stronger. Data's pace on the dirt road was rapid and he quickly closed the distance on an older gentleman who was walking toward Vandahar with a pack mule trailing behind him. There were lots of furs on the mule and the man immediately smiled upon seeing the newcomer.

"Good morning to you sir," he said cheerfully, tipping his hat at the android.

"Greetings," replied Data. "I take it you are headed toward Vandhar as well?"

"Yes, yes I am," the man replied, looking Data up and down very carefully. "It's a might chilly out here this morning and you're dressed pretty lightly… short sleeves even. I don't suppose you'd be interested in buying a light jacket or heavier coat from my stock?"

"Not at the moment," Data replied. "I am actually quite comfortable and do not feel any chill at all. My name is Data. What is yours?"

"Most folks call me Planno," the man replied, chuckling. "I guess you can too."

"It is nice to meet you Planno," said Data, pointing northwest toward the forest behind them. "Tell me, why would someone be out this early hunting mugato?"

"_Hunting_ them? Nobody does that."

"You are incorrect Planno," said Data respectfully. "Approximately one half kilometer back the way we've come I heard gunshots and saw several soldiers from Vandahar examining a dead mugato. I was wondering if they were after its fur."

"I suppose some folk would want to kill them and wear their fur as a status symbol," Planno decided. "Although I've never heard of such a thing before today, that is. Most people stay as far away from the mugato as they possibly can – you make one mistake around those beasts and unless a medicine man is close by it's your last."

"That is what I thought," decided Data.

Through the dissipating early morning mist they could see the outer wall of Vandhar – a monumental feat of construction that Data had looked forward to viewing ever since he read about it in the Starfleet briefing. Large blocks of stone had been carefully cut and used to build a 2-story barricade that reached at least four kilometers in length on its southern face. The path upon which they walked was gradually turning north and running directly toward one of the massive gates that occasionally broke up the consistent pattern of the stonework.

Although he couldn't see behind the top of the wall, it was quite obvious that there were numerous defensible positions available for soldiers to occupy during a time of battle. An invading army would pay dearly if it tried to take the city – even by surprise. This was another issue that Data was privately evaluating… why Alucarn's leadership had massed the southern nation's troops for an obvious invasion. Even with a superior force pushing steadily northward, they would eventually reach the city and taking it by force would cost many thousands of lives.

"You don't look much like a salesman and you don't have any goods," Planno said suddenly, smiling at Data curiously. "Why are you headed to Vandahar?"

"I plan to look for a job," replied Data straightforwardly, "After I locate a friend of mine."

"A job, huh?" Planno snorted. "The way everyone's talking about an invasion from Alucarn my guess is they'll stick a rifle in your hand and send you south. That'll likely be the _job _that you get."

"I sincerely hope not," Data decided. "I must find my friend as soon as possible."

They approached the soldiers standing guard at the city entrance slowly, watching them opening wide the large doors that protected the city. They were made of very dense, solid wood that was reinforced by iron bars on the inside. Each had a window in its center and they too were filled with protective iron bars. Vandahar was designed to be the central command center for all of the armed forces protecting the surrounding territory – Data had little difficulty in believing they would make a formidable opponent, even against a force as large as Alucarn's.

People began streaming out of the city as the soldiers finished opening the city. Glancing down the length of the wall toward the next gate to the east, Data could see that entrance throwing wide its doors as well. Many people were pushing carts loaded with their possessions as they headed out onto the paths leading away from the city. Glancing over his shoulder back the way they had come, Data could also see additional travelers on the horizon – they too were headed toward the city using some of the other pathways.

"If I don't see you again, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my friend," Planno said with vigor, shaking Data's hand. "If you ever do want a new coat or even some insulated slacks please look me up. It's so tough to sell the really expensive stuff until the snow flies."

"Thank you Planno, and I will most certainly look you up if I require a new jacket," Data promised the man.

The guards nodded to Planno as he and his pack mule ventured into the city limits. One of them gave Data an apprehensive look as the android tried to follow and immediately held out a hand to stop him. "Who are you?" the tall soldier asked suspiciously. "Have I seen you around here before?" He and his companions were wearing the distinct red and black colors that identified them as soldiers from Vandahar – the exact same uniform, Data noted, that the people he had spotted hunting the mugato had worn.

"No, you have not," Data said truthfully. "I have traveled a long way from the territory to the west and am looking for a friend of mine who was on his way to Vandahar. May I inquire – what is your name?"

"I am private Nolian, a soldier serving in the armed forces of his Majesty Appela the second," the guard said proudly.

"It is nice to meet you Nolian. Tell me, have you seen any strangers around here lately?"

"None but you," Nolian said with continuing distrust. "What is your friend's name?"

"My friend's name is Worf," said Data. "And my name is Data by the way. I am looking for this man and am hoping that you know of him… he was involved in an unusual incident southwest of here yesterday, and…"

"I don't know anything about an _incident_ yesterday morning," Nolian said quickly, his tone of voice becoming even more guarded. "And I think that you should be very careful what types of things you ask about while you're visiting our city."

"Noted," Data said as he watched a stream of people continue leaving. Glancing inside he surveyed the rows and rows of homes, vendor huts, and other structures that stretched as far as his eye could see. "However, Vandahar appears to be quite large and it is imperative that I locate my friend as quickly as possible."

"That's not my problem," said Nolian briskly, pointing a thumb into the city. "Move along now, stranger, before I arrest you for loitering."

Data held his ground. "If my friend were to fall into trouble with the law, where would he be taken?" The android watched Nolian's expression become slowly more irritated.

"Prisoners are held at the castle until their case can be heard by a magistrate or King Apella himself, should the accusation warrant it."

"Ah," Data said, satisfied. "Can you please give me directions to this castle? Perhaps I will look for my friend there, first."

"Your friend is a criminal?"

"He is not exactly a wealthy man," Data said. "And thus sometimes causes public disturbances. I have had to get him out of trouble many times before."

"Your friend doesn't sound like a very nice person."

"He has his moments," continued Data. "I would very much appreciate it if you would give me directions to this castle."

"You wouldn't be able to get in if you got there," pointed out Nolian as he began to grow a bit irritated. "Unauthorized personnel – strangers for one thing – are not allowed inside the castle's walls. Only certified officers of Vandahar's armed forces and selected servants are permitted inside of it. You're wasting your time and mine, so please go away."

"Yes of course," Data said, leaving the guard standing at attention next to the open gate. He walked over to the closest man leaving the city and quickly grabbed him by the neck with one hand. With the other, he took the traveler's shoulder bag.

"Hey!" the man said with more than a little surprise. "You can't do that – give it back!"

"I am robbing you," Data said. "Perhaps you should scream louder."

The man shot Data a dirty look and walked over to the soldiers at the gate. "Tell him to give me my bag back!" he said angrily.

All six men turned and looked at the android with extreme hostility in their eyes. Nolian quickly approached them and took the bag away from Data. Shaking his head he handed it back to the traveler and sent the man on his way.

"I know what you're trying to do and it won't work," he said. "Because of this little stunt of yours, I'm not even going to give you the _option_ of looking for your friend. Your privilege to enter this city has been denied. So go back where you came from and leave us – and me particularly – alone because you're _not_ entering Vandahar today." Nolian pointed back along the path that Data had come from.

Curiously, Data surveyed the terrain surrounding the gate. All of the overnight rain had soaked everything and there were still several large mud puddles in the vicinity, particularly the one right behind…

"What are you – ?" Nolian gasped as Data gave the unprepared soldier a shove. Nolian landed flat on his back in the middle of the mud puddle and his uniform immediately began soaking up dirty water. Spitting out a mouthful of liquid he sat up snarling. "Arrest that man!"

"Thank you," Data said to the rest of the soldiers as two of them grabbed his arms. A third gestured towards the city beyond the gate and they began walking inside.

"You're lucky I don't have you shot!" Nolian shouted after him, standing up uncomfortably. He picked up his rifle and glared at the two remaining guards. "What are you waiting for… one of you go and call for reinforcements!" he said heatedly. "I'm going to need to go back to the barracks and change my uniform."

* * *

There were six cells in the underground chamber that Data was eventually sent to… three on each side. Two of them were filled with sleeping peasants, while a third held a blonde haired man who looked more of the wealthier sort and thus seemed a bit out of place in a jail. There was a young, dark-haired boy with long flowing hair in the fourth cell and the last two – which were across from each other at the end of each row – were empty.

The guards put Data in the empty cell next to the boy and promptly left. From around the corner came the sound of a large door being shut and locked, then silence. He noticed that all of the cells were made of iron bars only, so there wasn't a lot of privacy for the prisoners. For Data it was a positive all the way because he was able to survey the entire cellblock and carefully study each prisoner in closer detail.

"My name is Lexi," said the boy with a small smile. "Are you a criminal?"

"Not usually," Data replied. "But I have decided to be for today, since I am looking for a friend of mine and felt that he would probably end up here. I'm afraid he can be a bit of a troublemaker." Data stuck his hand through the bars that separated their cells and shook the boy's hand. "My name is Data, and if I may ask – are you a criminal?"

"No I am not and that's what stinks about all this," replied Lexi. "It's nice to meet you Data." The boy frowned with frustration. "They charged me with violating the city's curfew, since I was out hunting yesterday morning and saw some things. It turns out that they don't want me telling anyone, so until they decide to let me go I'm stuck here. My Aunt Mehru is going to be so worried… and _mad _at me."

"What kinds of things did you see?" Data asked curiously.

"Something fell out of the sky… a big mysterious flying machine that had lots of fires burning on it," Lexi said cautiously. "It crashed near some trees and I helped the woman that was in it to safety. That was when the soldiers showed up and arrested us both."

"Are you sure there was only one person in this machine?"

"Positive. I bandaged the cut on her left arm and gave her some water to drink. She was dressed in a strange uniform and talked very strangely. We were both brought here and are currently being held indefinitely for questioning."

"Really," said Data. "Your story is most intriguing."

"That's just what it is – a story," the wealthy-looking blonde man said sarcastically. "The kid has been telling that fable to anyone who will listen. In jail, everyone is innocent. So am I in fact and that's what I told them… My name is Jerral and I didn't try to cheat the King on the tithe amount I owed him – that's just a _story_ they made up so they can keep me here."

"It _is_ true," Lexi insisted. "I did see the object, and you saw the woman yourself."

"I saw a woman wearing strange looking clothes, kid. Other than that you're telling a fib. How come no one else saw this flying machine of yours?"

"The soldiers did, but they'll never tell. They're trying to hide the whole thing."

"Where is the woman now?" Data asked Lexi.

"She's been in the cell across from you for most of the time I've been here," the boy responded. "But they took her away this morning… probably to see the King." He glared angrily at Jerral. "Not too many _ordinary_ criminals get an immediate audience with our King," he said snidely, sitting down on the rundown bunk at the rear of his cell.

"I've heard stories about visitors from the stars myself ever since I was a boy," Jerral said casually. "But I've never actually seen any of them, nor have they dropped out of the sky anywhere on the land that _I_ own."

"Maybe you don't _own_ enough land," said Lexi with a bit of anger in his tone. Sitting quietly for a moment he looked over at Data. "Do you believe me?"

"I would like to hear more about the object that you saw fall from the sky," the android said thoughtfully. "What did it look like?"

"Oh don't tell me you _believe_ him," Jerral said with disgust, shaking his head.

"It was very long and thin with a large metal wing on each side," Lexi said excitedly. "There was a glowing green thing on the tip of each wing, and one of them broke off when it crashed. The whole thing was made of metal and inside was a bunch of stuff that I'm pretty sure was powered by electricity."

"Another lie. You heard about the new project the city is working on to set up an electrical telegraph system. That's why the King's been charging higher tithe amounts lately – to pay for the lumber and increases in the labor force that are needed to begin setting up Vandahar's new communication system. Unless King Zantu and his Alucarn army march on us first, most of it will be completed before the snow flies." Jerral looked at the boy with complete disdain. "I'm really growing sick of your lying."

"I believe him," Data said.

"_You do_?" said Jerral and Lexi at the same time. They both glared at each other with complete annoyance.

"I would like to meet this woman," decided Data.

"All you have to do is wait here with me," commented Lexi. "They'll bring her back when the King is done speaking with her. If they're not going to let me go then they're certainly not going to release her either."

* * *

King Apella sat on his throne feeling mixed emotions. Next to him was his wife Maliya… his nine year old son Yori was also present. They had been visiting for most of the morning, trying to get at least some information out of the mysterious woman that had come to them from the sky. Several hours before she had grown quite frustrated, then sat down on the floor and refused to speak to them. The few things that she had said before growing angry had been incomprehensible to them anyway. Sepenon had tried a few words he knew from the languages of other distant lands, but she had not recognized any of those either.

Since the woman did not want to talk to them, they had moved the topic of discussion from determining who she was to the question of what they were going to _do_ with her. The King had not at all been happy to hear that the flying machine the woman piloted had mysteriously disappeared or that the hand weapon that they had seen tested the previous evening was also missing. Both objects had simply vanished, right out from under the care of his armed soldiers.

"I'm open to suggestions," the King said simply, waving his hands in futility.

"The fact that items we have viewed with our own eyes have vanished without a trace implies that some form of sorcery was involved," said Sepenon. "What other explanation is there to explain what we have personally witnessed?"

"Maybe the ancient legends about visitors from the stars are true," suggested General Thadren. "We are just on the verge of harnessing the power of electricity. Just imagine what the equipment in that flying machine was capable of."

"Visitors from outer space? I doubt it," Sepenon said. "Those are fables."

"Are they?" Thadren boomed in reply. "If so, then perhaps you can show us how this sorcery was accomplished. You are our senior Kanutu wizard, after all." He folded his arms and stood quietly waiting.

"Whatever it was is obviously beyond my humble skills," Sepenon admitted.

"I think that woman _is_ a visitor from another world," Apella declared, pointing to her. "The stories of people from other worlds _are_ true – my father, after all, was a direct witness and had contact with the first people that landed on our planet."

"My King," Maliya whispered quietly. "This is not something that you should be saying, particularly outside of this room."

"They _are_ true!" he insisted. "Gunpowder and our first rifles were given to my father by evil people who wanted to corrupt our planet. They lured my father into killing instead of trading, an action he later regretted. Once the hill people that he tried to exterminate were given the same weapons and fought back, we eventually he made peace with them and together built Vandahar city." He folded his hands together and gazed into his wife's eyes. "Unfortunately, word of the weapons we had learned to build spread to other lands, including King Zantu's."

"Zantu is our biggest problem right now," said Thadren with some concern. "Rumors that the visitors from above have returned are already spreading, and we know from the spies we have captured that he craves our secrets. He has been planning an invasion for months now, and this news – even if unconfirmed – will tempt him to advance his timetable and attack us sooner."

"Nonsense," disagreed Apella. "Alucarn will not attack Vandahar unless Zantu is certain that he can secure our city with few casualties. As long as our central command structure remains strong and intact, he knows that too many of his own troops would be lost in an assault against this city." The King shook his head negatively. "We owe many thanks to you, Thadren, for keeping us so well defended."

"If you're going to discuss politics, perhaps Yori and I should leave," suggested Maliya. "He's so young to be involved in all of this military debating."

"Yori will be King one day," Apella said proudly, ruffling his son's hair. "I think it does him a service to be able to sit in on our military sessions and learn how things are discussed and settled. I want him here."

"And I want to be here too," decided Yori, smiling at his father. The small, dark-haired nine year old boy was watching the unknown woman carefully. "She doesn't look evil," he said softly. "She just looks tired and lost… I think she is very far from home."

"A good observation," commented Thadren.

"If I hadn't seen that advanced weapon she brought with my own eyes, even I would find this all the more difficult to believe," the King said with a bit of puzzlement. "But my father _swore_ that the stories were true. He said the evil visitors were trying to use his leadership and influence among our people to gain access to this planet and its resources. When he confronted them about it they became very vicious and he was seriously injured. That was when other visitors from the stars appeared and chased the evil ones away. To my knowledge, neither side has been back since."

"There is also the legend of Mordra," Sepenon suggested. "She is supposed to appear to us, particularly in times of battle – making decisions about who lives and who dies based on the character of each individual. She is not a goddess to be trifled with, something which these visitors from the stars will learn if they continue traveling to our planet."

"You and your sorcerous fables," Thadren said with complete disdain. "You are a simple magician with simple tricks who deceives all of those foolish enough to believe in you. That the King even keeps you around is a wonder in my mind."

"He is my senior spiritual advisor," King Apella declared. "Not only have his herbs and spices enriched our daily diet but they help to keep us strong and healthy."

"I am also a healer and one of the few who can cure the death that comes from the poisonous predators that prowl outside the city walls," Sepenon said defensively. "When someone in your armed forces is severely injured I have noticed that you call for my services quickly enough."

"There is that," Thadren said simply, still sounding skeptical about the wizard.

"I still don't know what to do about this woman… or the boy they captured near that ship," said the King. "I have personally made inquiries and heard that he lives with an Aunt who is worried sick about him. How long do we unfairly keep _him_ in our custody?"

"To release him would be very foolish," Maliya said. "He would immediately tell everyone he knows about what he saw and heard out beyond the city as well as what he has seen here in the castle. Those types of stories will only increase the rumors that are already spreading throughout Vandahar."

"So why would that be foolish, my wife?" Apella inquired. "The machine is gone and so is the weapon." He pointed at the woman in her strange uniform still sitting on the stone floor. "Besides her, there is no physical evidence of any visitors from space… and she looks like one of us. Even her blood is red," he noted, observing the dried patches on her uniform and the large spot that had seeped from her wound through the cloth that Lexi had bandaged her with.

"You're going to let him _go_?" Sepenon said in astonishment.

"Yes," Apella declared. "I so order it. We will send him home to his Aunt and let him tell his story. If he likes, he can even take the curious out to the crash site and show them the burnt grass that is there and nothing else. The rumors will die quickly." He glanced over to General Thadren. "Keep him one more night and then release him quietly tomorrow morning."

"It shall be done as you command my King," Thadren said, bowing his head with respect.

"What about her?" asked Sepenon curiously, pointing at the woman.

"She must be detained for a while longer, until I can figure out what to do with her," the King said simply. "As Yori has said she looks very lonely and far from home. If we can ever figure out how to communicate with her, perhaps she will choose to live here with us." He nodded curtly at the General.

Thadren opened the doors to the King's private court room and admitted several soldiers. Pointing to the woman he said simply, "Take her back to her cell."

* * *

Everyone but Data was eating the afternoon meal provided for them when Data first heard the distant jingle of keys and heavy doors opening and closing. He was standing at the door to his cell, watching the two peasants in the end cells hungrily eating their food. Lexi was sitting on the bunk in his cell next to Data, picking idly at his portion. Across from him, Jerral was eating too but glanced up mischievously as he also heard the soldiers returning.

"I think they're bringing your visitor from the stars back Lexi," he said with a chuckle. "Perhaps we can convince her to do a trick for us."

"Shut up," Lexi said simply and continued eating.

Completely fascinated, Data waited patiently as the sounds of the approaching soldiers grew quickly louder. As he watched, two guards came around the dungeon's corner with a handcuffed prisoner between them. It was definitely a woman and she was most definitely wearing a Romulan uniform. Data smiled a bit as he realized that he had found the person he was seeking. The guard to her right blocked his view of her face as they stopped in front of her cell. The first hint that something unexpected was happening dawned on him as he noticed the dried red blood on her jacket. Curiously, he leaned against the door to his own cell.

One soldier entered in front of her, turned and began unlocking the handcuffs. Her back was still facing Data, and he continued to patiently wait as both guards finished unshackling her. They led her into the cell, then closed its door and locked it. Casting a glare at Data, they both headed back out of the underground chamber and he heard the door slam shut and then lock behind them. From his vantage point, Data could see only the woman's short graying hair.

"You have a new admirer woman," Jerral said with a laugh as he continued eating. The female looked at him with puzzlement, so he raised his spoon and pointed at Data.

Turning, she faced Data for the first time. As recognition dawned on both of their faces, Data felt a surge of complete astonishment burst forth from his emotion chip. The woman was in her mid sixties and – from the look of her hands and face – had obviously been confined on a planet with harsh working conditions for many years. But there was no doubt whatsoever in his mind that the pilot of the Romulan ship now standing before him was Tasha Yar.


	6. Prophecy

**DISCLAIMER:** _The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come._

**Star Trek: Absolution**

_I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres._

**Chapter VI: Prophecy**

Kai Opaka sat down on the edge of the bed in the temporary quarters assigned to her for the remaining short stay on the _Defiant_ and took several deep breaths. Having never realistically expected to see her home world again she felt a mix of both elation and concern. Kira had filled her in on a few of the details regarding what had happened during her absence but it was a lot to take in all at once. It had also been very emotional to tearfully say her good byes to the people she had lived peacefully with for the past few years – men and women whom she had literally shared life and death with in order to bond with them and form a lasting friendship.

_Nerys was a Bajoran General now_… an officer who still held a Starfleet commission as well. Opaka chuckled a little bit as she remembered the hot-tempered Bajoran resistance fighter who had rapidly risen through the ranks of their planet's newly-formed provisional government to the rank of Major. She remembered how much Kira and her former terrorists turned politicians had objected to her recommendation that Starfleet be invited to help them. Now they too had long since bonded with each other as trusted friends.

_And Benjamin Sisko had been promoted to the rank of Starfleet Captain during her long absence_. Other than that small fact, she had learned almost nothing further about the human she had befriended on first sight. Her curiosity regarding his whereabouts had grown stronger ever since leaving the small moon and its inhabitants behind her, and she mentally reminded herself to ask about him at the next available opportunity.

As though the room was reading her mind, the chime above the door to her quarters sounded and she hastily stood up to answer it. She pressed the button that opened the door and revealed the tall, confident outline of General Kira standing there before her.

"We're about to pass through the wormhole and move back into the Alpha quadrant," Kira informed her. "After that, it's just a short trip to the space station and you'll be able to begin preparing for your trip home."

"It will be wonderful to see Bajor again," decided Opaka as she stood calmly in her native clothing of animal skins with her hands peacefully folded in front of her. "Tell me Kira, where is Benjamin Sisko?" she asked, deciding to be direct.

"That is a tough question to answer Opaka," responded Kira cautiously. "All I know is that he is with the Prophets in the Celestial Temple. Other than that I can't tell you anything, because we haven't heard from him in many years."

"So he is safe and well?"

"The last _I_ heard he was," mused Kira thoughtfully. "He appeared in a vision to his new wife shortly before we stopped hearing from him. Kasidy lives on Bajor now in the house that he designed for them along with their young daughter, Laura. His son Jake returned to Earth and lives with his grandfather most of the time, but he has made the trip all the way to DS9 on occasion to visit his mother and sister on Bajor. He likes being out here – knowing his Dad is nearby – and he has high hopes that Captain Sisko will keep his promise to return some day."

"So the Emissary of Bajor has joined the prophets in the Celestial Temple," Opaka said with some wonder in her voice. "Everything has happened just as predicted by our texts which were written so long ago." She gave Kira an odd look. "Nerys, where is Jake now?"

"I invited him to Bajor's newest peace conference. The last I heard from him he was planning on attending so I expect that he is on his way." Kira shrugged her shoulders. "After you left… things happened so fast," she tried to explain. "There was a war, you see… between the Federation and new enemies we made in the Gamma quadrant. It lasted for several years and many people lost their lives." She paused, remembering. "I'd try and explain it to you now but we'll be back in the Alpha quadrant soon and there will be time then for a more detailed discussion of everything that has happened since you left."

Without warning the room began to spin around her and Kira reached out to grab Opaka's arm. There was a bright flash of energy…

* * *

…_and suddenly the two of them were standing suspended in a field of brilliant white light that stretched as far as they could see in all directions_. Standing?_ Kira glanced down and couldn't be certain if she was standing on something solid or whether the two of them were simply floating – suspended in an unknown pocket of space and time. She still held onto Opaka's arm and tightened her grip, determined not to lose the Kai again._

_"If answers are what you need," said a familiar voice, "Why don't you try going directly to the source." He was still wearing his Starfleet Captain's uniform and looked exactly the way he had the last time she had seen him at Vic's place during their victory celebration._

_"Hello Captain Sisko," Kira said happily as he continued walking toward them until he came to a stop right in front of her. She let go of the Kai's arm and hugged him with genuine fondness. "It is good to see you again, sir."_

_"Sir?" he said with a flash of humor, touching the fabric on the sleeve of her uniform. "If I remember correctly, that's a general's uniform that you're wearing now. Perhaps I should salute you!" Grinning with fond memories, the two of them hugged again, parting only when Ben glanced over her left shoulder and noticed the Kai waiting patiently._

_"Welcome back Opaka," he said sincerely. "Your interpretation of Bajoran prophecy is very accurate, I must admit. I truly hadn't expected to see you again."_

_"You Starfleet people have a habit of creating miracles of your own through your hard work and selfless dedication to the improvement of life for people of all cultures," replied Opaka. "I would not _have _this opportunity to be here if it weren't for that persistent Doctor of yours." She stepped forward and raised her right hand to lightly touch his left ear and smiled with delight. "Your pah is _still_ very strong Captain," she observed._

_"Just as you predicted, mine crosses yours again," he said with a chuckle. "It is good to hear that Dr. Bashir has been keeping himself busy…" The Captain's expression suddenly clouded over with concern. "But we have much to talk about, the three of us. A lot has happened… but even more is _about_ to happen, and we don't have a lot of time to prepare for it."_

_"I'm afraid I have just now returned Benjamin," Opaka informed him. "Kira has filled me in on some of the details, but I'm far from caught up on the situation in the Alpha quadrant."_

_"I can bring you up to speed a little faster," the Captain said confidently as he raised his right hand and gently touched her forehead. Kira watched with wonder as the Kai fell into some sort of trance. It appeared to take only seconds but once the Captain finally lowered his hand she turned and flashed the General a sad smile._

_"All those deaths," Opaka commented, "Simply because the shape shifting Founders of the Dominion could not get past their historical fear of the solids."_

_"They pointed their fingers at the very worst of our people and all of the bad things that happened long ago," Kira commented, "And then judged _all_ of us by the harsh conduct and poor behavior of a few." She met Captain Sisko's eyes with her own firm gaze and they both nodded knowingly. "Well, let's just say that we found a few of them who weren't so nice and decided not to judge their whole race using that same measure."_

_"Finding the Celestial Temple and the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant was both a plus and a minus as far as history is concerned," Sisko pointed out. "When we first found it I thought that the entire galaxy was ours for the taking in terms of exploration. No one could have predicted the danger that we eventually found and faced – one that almost consumed everything we've worked for hundreds of years to build."_

_"Was it worth it?" Kira wondered. "If we hadn't found a way into the Gamma quadrant the Dominion war would never have occurred."_

_"That's something my friends here have been quizzing me on and trying to learn more about," said Sisko carefully. "They understand the concept of linear time – history, the present and the future. Unfortunately they exist on another dimensional reality where that physical law does not apply. I've spent a lot of time letting them review my life experiences and demonstrating how the bad things that have happened in my life are sometimes necessary in order to maintain the overall balance of good. The Dominion war is just a larger example."_

_"Really?" said the Kai with interest._

_"Yes," said Sisko with none of the trepidation he had held during his first trip into the wormhole. "Take my son Jake for example. I was bitter for years after the loss of his mother to the Borg, but if I had let that anger overcome my good judgment I would never have met Kasidy and found my way back to a family. Now I have a son _and_ a daughter."_

_"Kasidy misses you terribly," pointed out Kira. "She had the house you wanted constructed on Bajor on the land plot you purchased. That's where she lives now with Laura. I visit her often but she is so very lonely as she patiently waits for you to return."_

_"I know…" Sisko said comfortingly. "Rest assured I have been able to…" he looked mischievously over his shoulder "… use my connections with the Prophets to check in on everyone from time to time." His expression turned serious. "Part of my job here has been to better help the wormhole aliens understand how we live. _Much of thishas included providing them with examples of how _our_ future is _not_ set in stone_. It takes a lot of effort, sometimes, but given the perseverance and determination from those of us who spend our lives in a linear universe we _can_ make more good things happen than bad."_

_"Kasidy wants you back," Kira stated simply. "She doesn't _care_ about some higher purpose or greater understanding between you and the Prophets. She simply wants her husband and family back with her. I think you can understand that, particularly after they terrified her during your relationship by telling you that your marriage to her would result only in great sorrow for you both."_

_"I hope that your own faith in Bajor's Prophets has not wavered," said Sisko._

_"No, it hasn't," the General decided. "But I grew up during the Cardassian occupation so I know what it's like for children who are missing one or both parents. It is not an ideal family situation by any means so the mother in me tells me that whatever the Prophets are asking of you, it's too much if it keeps you away from your family much longer. Jake lost his mother in the Borg attack, he doesn't need to lose his father to aliens too – even if these are friendlier."_

_"That concept of theirs has changed and will change even more soon," Sisko promised. "But first we must deal with another growing threat to the safety of the Alpha quadrant, one that is just as great as the Dominion was."_

_"The Breen?" Kira guessed in disbelief. "I know they've annexed a few extra planets and thrown the Cardassian Union in an uproar but I hardly think…"_

_"The Breen are planning _more_ than simply adding a few planets to their Empire," warned Sisko. "That's one of the reasons why the Prophets needed me here. They have _always_ held a vested interest in the safety of the people in this part of the Galaxy. But with so many new races entering the area after discovery of the wormhole they needed a new methodology by which they determine which historical events – although bad – must occur in order to eventually lead to a greater good."_

_"If the Breen are up to no good, can't the Prophets simply change what they don't like?" Kira asked curiously. "We know that they have intervened in Bajor's history before… who is to say that they shouldn't do it on a larger scale?"_

_"The Prophets are _of Bajor_," Opaka said suddenly, looking directly at Sisko. "They do not want to be drawn into matters that don't directly concern our people."_

_"But they also don't want your people harmed because of events that they decide _not_ to interfere with," pointed out Sisko. "That's why I have spent so much time here attempting to help them understand more about linear time – so that they can better recognize when their assistance is needed and when it is not."_

_"They helped us during the Dominion war," Kira countered. "If they hadn't gotten rid of that huge fleet of reinforcement ships traveling over from the Gamma quadrant, Bajor and the Federation might not be here today."_

_"The Dominion fleet _chose_ to enter the wormhole," replied Sisko. "In doing so they trespassed into Bajor's Celestial Temple with the intention of doing great evil. My request to get rid of them was an easy decision for the Prophets, but many of the events that have transpired before and after that incident have been much more difficult for them to interpret." He took a deep breath and paused, reviewing recent events carefully in his mind. "Throughout our years of space travel the Federation has learned that history follows many paths, each of which can be triggered based solely on the occurrence or non-occurrence of some extremely simple event. One Starfleet ship that fails to protect a Klingon outpost at the time when it is supposed to can literally define whether there are decades of peace with the Klingons or all out war."_

_"So what are the Breen up to?" Kira asked curiously. "What do they have planned?"_

_"I truly do not know," Captain Sisko said in response. "I only know that you must find out and stop them. The new friends I have made during my stay here are extremely concerned about the future of both Bajor and the Alpha quadrant. We are approaching another of those historical junctures when events can unfold differently based on the outcome of a few relatively minor events. Most of the projected timelines are extremely unfavorable – it will be up to you to identify and eliminate the additional threats to the stability of this sector."_

_"We will not fail you Benjamin," Kai Opaka promised. "There has been enough death and destruction… we must find a way to insure that people of all cultures have the time they need to heal, forgive and to live in peace."_

_"Do not get too comfortable when you return to Bajor," Sisko warned her. "I think you will find, Opaka, that your journey has not ended but is simply moving toward one of those new paths I spoke of. You are a great woman with a great destiny ahead of you." Opaka bowed her head in grateful response to his praise._

_"Jake is coming," Kira said suddenly. "I invited him to the peace conference."_

_"That was most kind of you Nerys," Sisko decided, rubbing his bearded chin with one hand. "I hope that both he and Kasidy are prepared for a visit from the old man because they're going to get one soon." Both Opaka and Kira laughed at the smile on his face as he said the last sentence. They were still laughing…

* * *

_

…when the same bright swirl flashed before their eyes again and deposited them back in the Kai's guest quarters on board the _Defiant_.

"Bridge to General Kira," said Lieutenant Nog's voice from the Comm-link on the work station in the center of the room's only desk. "We have just cleared the wormhole and returned to the Alpha quadrant. We will be docking at Deep Space Nine in a few minutes."

Kira took a deep breath and then walked over to the open link. "Thank you Lieutenant," she said gratefully, flashing a satisfied smile at the Kai. Opaka simply stood peacefully with her hands folded in front of her as before and said nothing further.

* * *

_Captain's Log, Supplemental. With the news of Kai Opaka's triumphant return to Deep Space Nine already spreading rapidly throughout the region, I have ordered our speed increased to warp 9.7 so that the _Enterprise _can arrive at the peace meeting earlier than previously scheduled. It will be interesting to see how reports of her latest visit to the space station affect the people of Bajor and their religious assembly, particularly after a very popular Vedek – one Leos Janek – has already been appointed as the successor to Kai Winn._

_As we near the completion of our long journey back to Bajor, I find myself optimistically looking forward to what I hope will be a very successful mission. We are hoping to put in place a political foundation that will form the basis of communication from which stability in this sector can be maintained for many years to come. Certainly the Breen will be unwilling to cooperate, but with the loss of their Cardassian and Dominion allies I am hoping that their influence in the Bajor system will be severely limited.

* * *

_

Picard stepped out of his ready room and found the bridge of the _Enterprise_ filled with familiar faces. A bit wistfully he was able to notice and pick out the dark-haired Ensign Vandalay filling in for Commander Data, but brushed that issue quickly aside as he remembered just how capable the android was at handling things once he received an assignment. The Captain felt fully confident that the incident on Stadia – if not already under control – soon would be. A full thirty-six hours had passed, after all, since the Romulan shuttle had first crashed on the planet.

Worf stood faithfully behind the tactical station, his long dark hair tied back into his traditional ponytail. Picard's part-time chief of security and most experienced tactical officer had lost none of his imposing presence over the years. Geordi LaForge, by contrast, sat comfortably at the engineering station, keeping a close watch on the ship's engine readouts as the _Enterprise_ continued to move at faster-than-normal speed. It was still astonishing, after years of watching the young man wear his visor, to stand back and watch him interact normally with his vision problems completely corrected. Picard fondly thought back to the planet whose environment had cured their Chief Engineer and silently renewed his promise to return someday soon and visit a certain beautiful woman who lived there.

Commander Riker rose to his feet at the Captain's approach and offered him the bridge's center seat. Picard calmly sat down and waited patiently, watching the stars fly hurriedly past them on the forward viewscreen. Finally one of the turbolifts at the rear of the bridge opened, allowing Admiral Janeway, Counselor Troi and Doctor Crusher to join them. Deanna and the Doctor casually walked down to the center of the bridge and stood next to Riker. Janeway, however, stopped in her tracks and mischievously glanced up at Worf.

"My, aren't you a big one?" the Admiral commented, watching the Klingon struggle to keep his indifferent composure. "They're growing them bigger and bigger at the Academy these days, aren't they Jean Luc?"

"Be careful Admiral," Picard said with a warning smile. "You're also talking to the Federation's official Ambassador to the Klingon High Council. Mr. Worf has a lot of friends in high places these days."

"I'll bet he does," replied Janeway, watching Riker and Geordi both chuckle at Worf's obvious discomfort. "The High Council is not currently in session, I gather?"

"They are still meeting to address some minor government matters," the Klingon said firmly. "However, since I spent a lot of time on Deep Space Nine, Chancelor Martok decided that I would be the best person to represent the Klingon government for the newest round of peace talks in the Bajoran sector." He glanced down at Picard with obvious pride. "Returning temporarily to my duties aboard the _Enterprise_ was a tough job, but someone had to do it."

A small spark of a smile flashed across Worf's face as the Admiral began laughing good-naturedly at his joke. Only the people who knew him best would be able to tell that he was feeling quite pleased with himself in Janeway's presence. Picard had to admit that the temperamental young Klingon who had first joined his crew so many years ago had matured in many ways. He was a man with a lot of clout and obviously growing quite comfortable with his new role as a Federation diplomat.

"What's on today's agenda?" Janeway asked Picard curiously. She leaned casually against the tactical console and immediately drew an irritated glance from Worf.

"I was hoping that we could hold an informal meeting here on the bridge during the short time we have left before the _Enterprise_ reaches DS9. I must admit to being most curious, Admiral. Just what are the Breen up to out here?"

"We're not totally certain yet," Janeway said with a sigh. "Unfortunately you know about as much as I do regarding the situation. For the most part, the Dominion forces have retreated back into the Gamma quadrant while the Cardassians have focused much of their effort on rebuilding their central planets. In the interim, the Breen have used the chaos and confusion to try and expand their empire by seizing planetary colonies in at least a dozen star systems."

"Let me guess," Dr. Crusher said with a shake of her head. "These colonies would be the vulnerable ones located on planets within the former de-militarized zone that was initially established by Federation and Cardassian treaty."

"Most of them are anyway," continued Janeway. "Bullies don't normally pick on victims that can fight back, and that's all the Breen are – a bunch of thugs. However, two of the planets they've been visiting regularly are in the Dark Nebula territory that separates the Federation from Breen space. It is a largely unexplored and unstable region situated on the very edge of our border. In the past we've pretty much left it alone to avoid antagonizing the Breen – a policy that was very successful up until the recent war. Before they allied themselves with the Dominion and attacked us, we had been hoping to eventually send a delegation to meet with them and improve our relations with them further."

Geordi shook his head in disbelief. "Most of those colonists had short tempers after the _original_ treaty was implemented. I doubt that they've calmed down any since the Breen started hanging around."

"No they haven't," the Admiral said grimly. "So far it's a different dictatorship with the same result. If the Dominion hadn't done such a thorough job of disarming the Maquis and destroying their command and control ability, I would expect that they would have reformed by now." She glanced toward Commander Riker with a very concerned expression. "I've read Captain Picard's reports regarding your missions there, so I know you all understand just how unstable that region can become."

"So nothing has really changed for them," Troi decided. "They're not officially part of or protected by the Federation and they certainly don't have the weapons or training necessary to adequately defend themselves."

"That's correct," said Janeway, carefully watching the passing stars slow to a gradual crawl on the viewscreen as the _Enterprise_ dropped out of warp. "We have to do something about the Breen and do it quickly. Another war – even a brief one – is out of the question. It will simply weaken our already depleted forces further and leave the Federation even more susceptible to attack from its enemies."

"We are at one quarter impulse Captain," Ensign Vandalay reported, "On final approach to Deep Space Station Nine."

"I would very much like to know what _else_ the Breen are up to," Picard commented, glancing back at the Admiral with a hint of irritation in his tone. "The Dark Nebula is largely unexplored territory because it is a very dangerous region of space. It is very obvious that the Breen want the colonies in the former de-militarized zone because of the resources there and the weapons and hardware left behind after the Dominion's quick exit. But no one is going to convince _me_ that all they're doing in the Nebula is setting up colonies or expanding their Empire. They're planning something, and I don't think it's going to be anything that will help stabilize this region."

"Agreed," said Janeway. "While the _Enterprise_ delegation attends the peace conference, part of our mission will be to launch a covert investigation into the Dark Nebula to determine just what is going on in there."

Riker stepped confidently forward, glancing first at Geordi and then Worf. "If you're looking for volunteers, Admiral, you've got them."

Picard leaned forward in his seat and raised a hand to his mouth, failing to hide his quiet chuckle. "The fate of the entire galaxy could be at stake and the Federation facing all of its most lethal enemies at once," he said with a laugh, "And these gentlemen, Admiral, would still volunteer to face it down rather than attend a boring diplomatic function."

"You've got that right," Geordi said firmly.

Janeway found herself laughing along with the Captain. "Believe me Jean Luc," she said with grim determination sounding in her voice, "If I wasn't already on the guest list, I would probably join them."

"How are we going to spy on the Breen without them detecting us?" Troi asked curiously. "Even in an unstable region of space like the Nebula I'm sure that there are only so many places a ship can hide."

"There is a Klingon cloaking device on my shuttle," Worf said suddenly. "It will no doubt be very useful to us." Everyone slowly turned and _stared_ at him. With his imperious gaze, the Klingon glared right back at them. "Chancellor Martok is also extremely curious as to what the Breen are doing in the Nebula," he continued, "And _we_ did not sign the treaty of Algeron. At least, not the part that prohibits us from using cloaking technology."


	7. Old Foes, New Friends

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter VII: Old Foes, New Friends**

Jake Sisko materialized on the surface of Bajor with a traveling bag slung over one shoulder. He took a good look around at the beautiful green valley located in the Kendra province just south of the Yolja river. He could hear water trickling through a small creek somewhere nearby and saw a fancy new house just off to his right. Taking a deep breath of fresh air on the world his father had come to love as much as his own, he slowly began walking toward the house. He paused at the base of a large tree, glancing upward into its blossoming branches. Jake absently scratched his head as he decided whether or not to pick one of the large golden-orange fruits hanging above him.

"You don't have to worry… they're safe to eat," said someone reassuringly from behind him. Jake turned with a big smile lighting his face, grinning at the woman and the small girl beside her that he hadn't seen in far too long.

"Kasidy!" he said excitedly, running over and hugging her tightly. "How have you been?"

"Oh Laura and I are doing quite fine thank you," Sisko's wife replied sincerely. She ruffled his short-cut dark hair with a smile. "It's a good thing I don't sit around waiting for you to visit, that's for sure. I'd be a pretty lonely woman by now." She pointed at the tree he had been studying. "That's a Moba tree," she said with a smirk. "I don't know why, but your father loves them. Personally, I think the fruit on them tastes terrible!"

"How are you, Laura?" Jake asked, bending down to hug his little sister.

"Fine," she replied casually, playing with one of the blue ribbons in her dark hair. "I'm going to be three years old soon," she said, holding up three fingers proudly.

"Good for you," Jake said, picking Laura up and hugging her tighter. She wore a smooth white summer dress with colorful flowers printed all over it. Taking her small hands in his, he suddenly began swinging her around in circles, laughing as the young girl squealed with delight.

Kasidy happily watched them, tossing aside the garden tool she had been working with. She brushed dirt off the light coveralls she was wearing and put her hands on her hips. "It was very nice of you to come, Jake."

"I'm thinking of this as a working vacation," he replied. "I'm doing a biography of Dad's life and I need to interview you and General Kira to get some different points of view. You both got a pretty close look at him – how he thinks, what he believes in."

"You've got that part right," Kasidy said as distant memories suddenly seemed much closer again. "For a well-trained Starfleet Captain he certainly retained his impulsive nature. I remember the day he told me he bought 12 hecapates of land on Bajor just like it was yesterday." She glanced at him mischievously. "Before I forget my manners, why don't you come into the house and stay for awhile. If I know you, you're probably hungry and I've got leftovers from supper in the refrigerator."

"That sounds like a great idea," Jake said, turning and walking with the pair toward the house. "You keep having more rooms added on all the time – the look of the place has really changed," he said. "It looks like the perfect home for a family. Are you here a lot?"

"Not nearly as much as I'd like to be," Kasidy decided, opening the front door and ushering Jake inside. "Your father talked about retiring here someday and using it as a part time home in the meantime. That's kind of what I've been doing." She looked down at Laura. "We only live here some of the time, right honey?"

"Right," said Laura cheerfully. "The rest of the time we have to make the cargo runs."

"Oh, that's classic!" Jake chuckled. "My little sister… the cargo crewman."

"Hey, when she walks onto _my_ bridge the entire crew snaps to attention," Kasidy insisted. "Our ship has the most talented ladies in the sector, if I don't mind saying so myself – and I don't." She pointed at Jake's feet. "Off with the shoes young man, the carpet is still new."

"You haven't changed a bit," Jake laughed, lowering his duffel bag to the floor. "Do I get my usual room or was it one of the casualties during your last rebuilding project?"

"Yes, you get your usual room!" Kasidy said with mild amusement. "And if you don't like the living arrangements here you can go beg Commander Hazelton for your old quarters back on Deep Space Nine." She threw up her hands in mock irritation and paused for a moment, remembering. "I wouldn't want to go and change anything while you're light years away and living on Earth. "How is your grandfather, by the way?"

"Still the same old Grandpa Joe," Jake decided. "Although I have to say he has really surprised me this past year. He's actually letting some of the part time cooks take on more responsibility in the restaurant. They're actually having to work for a living these days."

"You don't say," said Kasidy with a bit of surprise. "I'll bet he still taste checks every dish before it gets served, though."

"You know it," chuckled an amused Jake. "There are some things that he will never let go of." They moved into the well-furnished kitchen area on the ground floor and Kasidy began taking several chilled dishes out of the large refrigerator near one of the windows. A shaft of dwindling evening sunlight was still splashed across the floor in front of the table. Pulling out a chair, Jake helped Laura into it and then sat down in a second chair.

"So how was your trip to Bajor?" she asked, scooping food onto a plate for her stepson. "I still have my sources you know, and I heard you got to travel on board the _Enterprise_."

"That's right," said the younger Sisko. "You wouldn't believe how _big_ that ship is. I got the red carpet tour and everything – it's beautiful!"

"What is Captain Picard like?"

"He's a lot shorter than I thought he would be," decided Jake after thinking for a bit. "With all the stories we hear about all of these great Starfleet Captains, I kind of expected him to be larger than life." He shrugged and began shuffling food around on his plate. "He's just a regular guy, but if you talk to him for any length of time you know why he's in command of that ship. He's got the same super-strong personality that Dad has… and a tough mission ahead of him. The _Enterprise_ stopped by just long enough to drop me off."

"General Kira heard from your father today," Kasidy said suddenly.

"Really?" Jake's expression lit up with emotion and he pushed the plate aside. "What did he say? Is he coming back?"

"He didn't say for certain whether it's a permanent thing or not," Kasidy said with a sigh. "But he did tell her that he was glad you were coming and that we should both expect a visit."

"That's great!" Jake said enthusiastically, reaching over and hugging Kasidy. "I can't wait to see what he thinks of all the changes you've made to his original house design."

"Hey," she said warningly. "If he expects to be included in the decision making process around this house then he has to start showing up for the family meetings."

"Well _I'm_ here," Jake said. "And I'm planning on staying a little longer this time… probably until you get tired of having me around and kick me out." He watched her reaction and laughed again, then grabbed the plate of food and began eating.

* * *

Once the _Enterprise_ completed a successful docking at one of Deep Space Nine's upper pylons, Picard and Janeway were the first to pass through the airlock. They enthusiastically shook hands with both General Kira and Commander Patrick Hazelton, the latter being a sandy-haired confident fellow with a twinkle in his brown eyes. The Captain quickly introduced Geordi, Riker, Troi and Dr. Crusher before noticing that a formal presentation for Worf was completely unnecessary. Obviously, the large Klingon had a lot of friends on the station, too.

"Welcome back to DS9!" said Ezri with a big smile, rushing eagerly forward to hug him. Julian Bashir also stepped forward and said hello, making sure to quickly register an inquiry about the O'Brien's back on Earth.

"I have been on the Klingon homeworld for much of my spare time this past year and have thus not heard from the Chief recently," he replied.

"Miles does keep in touch with us once in a while," Geordi commented, also responding to Bashir's question. "From what I've heard he's been pretty busy with his new teaching career, but he did send me a message on Molly's last birthday. He's doing very well, and so are Keiko and the kids!"

"I probably hear more from him than _all_ of you combined," Kira said triumphantly. "After all, I am Molly and little Kirayoshi's Aunt Nerys!"

Glancing at the General, Janeway smiled in admiration. "I've been doing a lot of reading on the way out here, and I must say – you and Commander Hazelton have laid out quite an agenda," she said to Kira. "All we have to do is process Bajor's latest petition for Federation membership, deal with the ongoing pollution and reconstruction efforts here and in the Cardassian Union, stifle the growing insurgency in the former demilitarized zone and deal with the Breen. Once we've completed all of that, we can go home."

"The Admiral is a textbook example of Starfleet optimism at its finest," said Picard with an amused chuckle before his expression and tone grew more serious.

"Where is Kai Opaka?" Dr. Crusher asked. "I've heard about the medical ordeal that she went through and was really looking forward to meeting her."

"Opaka is currently visiting in private with Bajor's current Kai, Leos Janek," replied Hazelton. "They're discussing options for a peaceful approach in our upcoming negotiations with the Breen. Personally I think they're a little too optimistic... the Breen haven't shown any sign of caring about anything in the DMZ except stripping its planets of their most valuable resources." He put a hand on Bashir's shoulder. "However, you might want to chat a bit with this young man. He developed the nano-probe technique that freed Opaka from the bio-technology keeping her trapped on that Gamma quadrant moon for so many years."

"I _would_ very much like to see your notes Doctor," Crusher decided. "When you have some spare time, that is. I regularly read the reports you send back to Starfleet medical – you're a very gifted physician."

"Thank you," Dr. Bashir replied. "Stop by the Infirmary whenever you like. That's usually where you'll find me these days."

"I hope you Doctors don't spend all of your time talking about boring medical stuff," Ezri said with a frown. "You didn't come all this way just to work all the time. You folks from the _Enterprise_ are allowed to have a little fun while you're here too, you know." She put an arm around the waist of her husband and gave him a small hug.

"My wife, the counselor," Bashir noted proudly, his face getting red.

"You're a counselor?" said Deanna with interest, taking a closer look at Ezri. "So am I! I think we could probably find a few things to discuss while those two are talking shop."

"A discussion about the art of counseling?" Riker said with wonder. "Now there's a classic example of boring medical stuff if I ever heard one." He ignored the elbow he got from Troi and somehow managed to maintain his deadpan expression despite the sharp burst of pain.

"I agree," Worf said enthusiastically. "Enough with the boring talk. Doesn't anyone want to try and best me with a bat'leth?" He too managed to maintain a solemn air as the corridor filled with laughter.

"Our first official meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 0700," pointed out General Kira. "Just give us a call in Ops if you folks need anything."

Commander Hazelton watched everyone begin to drift away to renew friendships and explore the station, then switched his focus back to Picard and Janeway. "Kira and I have discussed our situation in great detail," he informed them. "What we really lack is a solid source of intelligence that would tell us exactly what's happening on the ground in those Colonies lining the former DMZ. Without solid information, it's very difficult to plan our strategy."

"Now that we're here, I think I can be of some assistance with that matter," offered the Captain. "I know someone I can contact who will be most helpful."

"Any assistance you can offer will be greatly appreciated," Hazelton said gratefully as the three of them began walking toward a turbolift. "And I'm sorry – by the way – that I had to reroute you to an upper pylon at the last moment. We've got a lot of ships coming in again since the war ended, and that starship of yours is _huge_!"

* * *

Hazelton ended up offering to let Picard use the sub-space transmitter in his private office. The Captain gratefully accepted the invitation so both he and Janeway hastily decided to take a brief tour of Ops. Emerging from the turbolift, he entered the Commander's office and sat down in Sisko's old chair. Activating the desktop's work station he sent out a private, meticulously encrypted communication. There was no response at first and he patiently waited for well over an hour as the signal silently continued its ongoing hail an uncounted number of times, repeating every few minutes. He was about to call it an evening and try again the next day when the screen in front of him suddenly flashed with a burst of static and then steadied around the picture of a very familiar face.

"It's good to see you again," he said to the dark-haired woman on the screen. "I was afraid that you might have grown tired of checking in with me from time to time."

"_Not at all Captain Picard_," replied Ro Laren, his former Lieutenant. "_There's a lot happening, so I'm really glad you decided to contact me again. I still owe you one to make up for my betrayal of your trust, but I'm afraid I have no choice but to officially ask for your help again because we could really use some assistance out here_."

"Laren… might I suggest that you _stop_ worrying so much about the past," suggested the Captain. "You're not the only one who's gotten caught up in a moral dilemma and had to make a choice, after all. We've all been there and it's something you must put behind you so that it does not distract you and negatively impact your future decisions."

"_Thanks_," she said with a grateful smile. "_You've always been there for me Captain_."

"And _you've_ been there for _us_," Picard acknowledged. "As things turned out, you simply went deeper undercover than we had initially intended. The information that you covertly provided to us during the Dominion war was of great help to the Federation and saved a lot of innocent lives on those Colonies that you now call home. It's time for us to return the favor."

"_What do you mean_?" she asked curiously.

"The Breen have no claim to the colonies that they've seized along the perimeter of the Badlands and we intend to move them out of there, one way or the other. But first we need to know what we're up against."

Ro took a deep breath and ran a hand through her dark hair. He could see the anxiety in her expression and it was obvious before she even spoke that things were not going well. "_It's getting really bad, Captain_," she said with extreme concern. "_The situation is just as hostile as when the Cardassian civilians first armed themselves and started trying to drive the Federation colonists out – worse even because this time we have no weapons to defend ourselves_."

"The Jem'Hadar made certain of that," he commented.

"_Yes_," she agreed. "_They disarmed the Maquis and everyone else but allowed us to stay as long as we made no move against the Cardassian-Dominion alliance. Once that treaty broke down the Dominion did as much damage to us as they could before the Federation and its allies forced them back to the Gamma quadrant_."

"So _why_ are the Breen there?" Picard wondered. "I know they're primarily interested in the natural resources you have, but Admiral Janeway has informed me that they've also seized a couple of uninhabited star systems located in the Dark Nebula. My instincts tell me that they're up to something, and I doubt very much that it's anything related to peaceful exploration."

"_Janeway… Do you mean the Delta quadrant Captain_?"

"I see her reputation precedes her."

Ro laughed. "_We're not_ completely _isolated out here Captain. We heard about_ Voyager _and its long journey back home. A lot of our own ships that mysteriously went missing in the Badlands were undoubtedly seized and transported to the Delta quadrant just like hers was_." She paused for a moment, carefully reviewing the information he had shared with her. "_As for the Colonies, our situation hasn't changed much except that the Cardassians are in the same situation we are this time. We have no weapons and are allowed to live reasonably, but the Breen are making it difficult for us and trying to slowly force us out. Armed troops march through our streets regularly and the few of us that have protested almost immediately disappear mysteriously. Like I said, we could really use some help_."

"The first stage of our plan has already been implemented," Picard informed her. "I'm also planning to send an away team into the Dark Nebula to evaluate the Breen presence and determine their intentions." He smiled reassuringly. "But we have to move very slowly or the Breen will come down on you just like the Dominion attacked the Cardassian people when they revolted. It would help us a lot if we knew how much weaponry and equipment the Jem'Hadar left behind when they evacuated."

"_Where do I begin_?" Ro said with a sarcastic laugh. "_The Breen have spent the last six months dismantling at least three Dominion power plants I know of. They've taken all of that equipment and moved it elsewhere – quite probably into this Dark Nebula that you mentioned. They've also captured all of the hardware the Maquis forces were using, including our ships, weapons and the industry-sized replicators that were stolen from Starfleet_."

"Really," said Picard with extreme concern evident in his tone.

"_Why. Is that a major problem_?"

"Absolutely," confirmed the Captain. "If they have a virtually unlimited supply of power then that gives them the ability to use those replicators to create anything they need, be it weaponry or sophisticated computer hardware. The starship _Voyager_ was fortunate to have a couple of them aboard when they were thrown into the Delta quadrant. The crew was able to use them to replicate most of the spare parts they needed each time the ship took damage. The remaining energy they didn't use was rationed amongst her crew for use in the smaller versions to supplement their food and medical supplies."

"_Well whatever the Breen are doing, they've got all the energy they need_," Ro decided. "_Trust me, those Dominion reactors produce a lot of power_."

"Do you or the people in the Colonies have any immediate needs?" asked Picard. "Specifically I'm referring to food, doctors and medicine… anything of that sort?"

"_Not really_," said Ro. "_Like I said… as long as we behave ourselves and don't make any trouble the Breen pretty much leave us alone. As you've no doubt noticed they even let all of the commercial freighters and transports stop by and conduct their normal commerce. They're well aware that if they make too much trouble you'll immediately intervene. But if they need something or decide to take someone's house, we have no choice but to give them what they ask for. If we offer any resistance at all they send out their troops and forcefully relocate us_."

"Well, we've decided to send you someone who can begin helping you plan a resistance movement," the Captain informed her. "You'll be contacted shortly by a good friend of Admiral Janeway's. His name is Chakotay, he's a former Maquis commander himself and he'll be able to fill you in on the beginning stages of the plan that we've come up with."

"_I'll keep an eye out for him_."

"Laren, _don't_ try anything on your own initiative that will cost innocent lives," Picard warned her. "I know you're just bursting at the seams to do something, but the Federation has dealt with this kind of occupation many times before – I promise you that we're coming soon and will do everything in our power to restore stability to that region as soon as possible."

"_Thank you Captain. You know I trust you_."

"I'll be in touch with you again at this time tomorrow," he promised, then closed down the subspace channel. Folding the fingers of both hands together, he leaned on them and carefully thought about the information he had just heard before glancing up a bit anxiously at the woman sitting across from him.

"Don't worry Jean Luc," Janeway reassured him. "Chakotay is already on board a freighter and en route to the Badlands."

* * *

Riker settled down next to Morn on a barstool at Quark's and promptly ordered a synthahol from one of the waiters. He noticed the Ferengi working on the far end of the bar and smiled, waiting until the bartender turned around and recognized him.

"Commander Riker," Quark said warmly, "It's good to see you again. Welcome back to Deep Space Nine!" He walked over to Riker and carefully peered at his sideburns. "Is it really you this time? There was that incident with the _Defiant_, you know…"

"Yes, it's really me. I lost the beard a while ago," grinned Riker, slapping a strip of latinum on the bar. He raised an eyebrow in surprise as Quark waved him off.

"You drink on the house tonight Commander."

"Thank you, but why are you suddenly so generous?" Riker wondered. "You've certainly taken enough of my latinum over the years at the Dabo table." He nodded at the waiter and accepted his glass of ale with a flourish.

"And you've won plenty back with your poker games against my best players," grinned Quark. "Really Commander, I thought you'd have heard by now. My brother is the new Grand Nagus, so I have a little extra cash flow these days and can afford to be extra generous."

"That'll certainly draw in a few extra customers and increase your business profits," Riker decided, taking a drink from his glass.

"Exactly," said Quark with a greedy smile. "So how's life on the _Enterprise_?"

"Pretty much the same old same old," Riker stated. "How's life in the Bajor sector? Is the trade market into and out of the Badlands still profitable?"

"Oh, I see… you want to talk about the Breen, do you?"

"I was hoping you could give me a little background information, yes."

"The Breen carefully search every ship that stops by the star systems they control, but other than that they're letting commerce proceed normally. The only way you get in trouble with them is if you try and bring in weapons or explosives – other than that they work on their own agenda and leave the rest of us alone."

"Hmmm…" said Riker curiously. "I can't see that stopping a determined man like you."

"A bit of minor smuggling has its advantages too," Quark admitted. "I've always been a bit of a pirate – you know that. Everyone loves the finer things in life like Romulan ale, Delavian chocolates..." He held up a glass he was polishing for emphasis. "And making a little extra cash on the side never hurt anyone either."

"That's what I love about you most Quark," said Riker appreciatively. "Only you have the connections that come in really handy during the toughest situations."

"You're going to ask me to use my contacts to help Starfleet, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it asking," Riker decided. "Let's just say that we're going to need to get some supplies to those people in the occupied territories. The Breen aren't respecting their personal rights and their presence is having negative consequences for both the Federation and the Cardassian Union. We plan to help them."

"You're not telling me anything I don't already know," Quark said with a bit of irritation. "Do you know how _long_ those searches take? They carefully screen every ship that goes in and out of the Colonies that they control – and _that's_ extremely bad for business."

"If we need your help, can we count on you?"

"Of course Commander," decided the Ferengi agreeably. "You've already noticed that I'm feeling very generous today."

Riker pointed a thumb at Morn sitting next to him. "He doesn't say much, does he?"

"Today… no. But some days, Commander, he goes on and on about the most ridiculous things. I'm glad you stopped by."

"One of my colleagues from the _Enterprise_ will be in touch," he said, rising from the bar stool with a friendly wave. "It's always a pleasure, Quark."

"Likewise, Commander Riker," said the Ferengi bartender as he intently watched the extremely tall Starfleet Commander walk away. He glared at Morn. "You could have at least said hello to him… he didn't take _all_ of your gold-pressed latinum the last time you two played poker! How else are we going to get him back to the table?"

* * *

An hour later Riker was back on board the _Enterprise_ in shuttle bay two carrying a large duffle bag toward Worf's shuttle. Geordi and their part-time Klingon tactical officer were already busy pre-flighting the ship and making sure that all of its systems functioned properly. As the Commander finished stowing his gear at the rear of the small ship he was surprised to see Dr. Crusher step aboard, also carrying some personal effects.

"Last minute assignment from the Captain," she said with a bright smile. "He wanted me to wish you luck and make sure that you had a physician to look after you – especially since most of the matter in the Dark Nebula is unstable, chaotic and invisible. It wouldn't take much to severely damage a small ship like this one." She brushed her long red hair aside and glanced over her shoulder at Worf. "What is the name of your ship?"

"Name?" he growled. "It is a shuttle."

"Every good ship should have a name," she insisted. "For luck."

"Then I will call it the Daq," Worf said imperiously, waiting for LaForge to board before closing and sealing the outer hatch. "It is a Klingon word meaning 'to eavesdrop'."

"That's a good name," Geordi decided. "If we're going to name it for luck, then I don't want to even hear the Klingon word for 'explode'." Worf opened his mouth to say something else but Commander LaForge quickly shook his head and held up a hand in warning.

"Let's be on our way, shall we?" Riker grinned as Worf powered up the impulse engines on the small shuttle. The roar inside the small cabin grew rapidly in crescendo.

The ship's forward viewscreen flickered and steadied on an image of the edge of the hangar bay. They watched it draw closer and closer as Worf activated the thrusters and Riker powered on the ship's cloaking device. No one outside of the _Enterprise_ crew on-duty actually saw the shuttle leave the starship – it simply vanished into the starry background beyond the hangar as it hastily accelerated off toward its distant mission.

* * *

Commander Hazelton was in Ops a short time later when a proximity alarm went off. He glanced back toward one of the Bajorans working at the science station and the lanky brown-haired officer quickly checked the sensor readouts on his console.

"There are ten ships that just dropped out of warp and on final approach to DS9," he said with a bit of anxiety in his voice. "One of them is the biggest starship I've ever seen… dimensions being over 2,000 meters in length, 700 meters high and 1400 meters wide. It's unbelievable!" He verified the data. "The other nine are normal sized starships and appear to be support craft."

"Hail them please," Hazelton requested. Behind him, the door to his office opened and Picard and Janeway emerged. "Ah," he said, "I hope that you got the information you needed."

"And then some," Picard noted, glancing at the huge ship prominently displayed on the oval Cardassian viewscreen. "Good Lord, what in blazes is that?"

"It's the Xindi," Janeway said from her position next to him. "I invited a delegation from their government to attend this peace conference."

"Okay," Hazelton said, sounding a bit puzzled as he turned to look at Picard. "I'm betting that ship isn't going to fit well even on one of our pylons. There are too many ships here already… so just where do I tell them to dock?"

"That's an aquatic ship," the Admiral informed him. "They can orbit the station from a safe distance. Since the life forms aboard require an oceanic environment in which to survive, we'll be meeting with them via video conferencing technology."

"I hope _they_ already know that," Hazelton said sarcastically.


	8. Dragon Tales

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter VIII: Dragon Tales**

"Data?" Tasha said with disbelief, pressing her face against the bars of her cell. "Is that really you? She felt a wave of elation surge through her body at the sight of his familiar face and as she carefully studied his human-looking appearance a small burst of a smile flashed across her face. "You look so… normal!"

"Thank you," he replied from his position in the cell across from hers. "Although I must admit to some surprise at finding you here on the surface of Stadia. Your daughter Sela once met with Captain Picard on board the _Enterprise-D_ and told him of your journey into this timeline from another. But she also informed him that you had been killed during an escape attempt. Obviously she was not entirely truthful with him."

Lexi was watching intently through the bars that separated him from Data. "You know her?" he said with more than a little surprise. "Then you must be from the stars too!"

"Oh for crying out loud kid," Jerral growled with frustration. "You're hopeless."

"Sela lied about _a lot_ of things," Tasha said with a frown as old memories resurfaced.

"Indeed," Data agreed. "We have dealt with her ourselves on several occasions and found her to be quite deceptive. She does not bargain in good faith, nor does she represent the peaceful interests of the Romulan Empire. Many would consider her quite evil, in fact."

"She is not a representative of the Romulan military any longer," pointed out Tasha informatively. "The people she was working for don't like failure very much. She's working away in one of the mines at the same prison colony that I was serving on."

Data glanced over her dirty, blood-soaked uniform carefully. "How did you manage to escape?" he asked curiously. "The security measures at prison camps are usually nearly impenetrable. It was highly improbable that you would survive an escape attempt."

"You have no idea," Tasha said, pausing to review the rapid-fire series of events that she had been through recently. "I had to wait patiently for many years just to have the opportunity. The Romulan warden that runs the prison likes to bring a civilian lady or two with him when his Administrative duties require him to spend more than a day with us… if you know what I mean." She shrugged. "So I waited for my chance to break through security and steal his shuttle. Conditions had to be perfect and it had to be sometime after the first day he arrived – otherwise there would still have been a mother ship in orbit."

"How come we can suddenly understand her?" Lexi asked Jerral, pointing at Tasha. "We've never been able to tell what she's been saying before, it always sounds like nonsense. Now I can understand every word she says!"

Data turned to Lexi and said informatively, "I have a Universal Translator subroutine stored within my memory. It functions quite adequately in situations such as this one."

"They _know_ each other… perhaps she speaks more than _one_ language?" Jerral argued disagreeably. "Seriously kid, you need to shut up about these 'people from space' stories. Folks around here are going to think you're crazy, and that's _not_ going to do you any good."

"It puzzles me that the Romulans pursued you so aggressively Tasha," Data continued. "They violated Klingon space in order to try and stop you… an incident their diplomatic community has no doubt received numerous complaints about by now."

"You have no idea," she responded. "They consider me an extremely high security risk since I came here from an alternate timeline. Apparently the quantum singularities that they use in their engine cores can affect time in certain areas of space when other sources of energy are present – usually intense weapons fire. They've been trying to find ways to exploit that and use it to their advantage for years, because in the timeline I come from the Federation was losing in an all-out war with the Klingons."

"I can see why they would want to investigate that event so thoroughly," decided Data.

Tasha returned to the small cot in her cell and sat down. "So no one was more surprised than me when they chased my shuttle into Klingon space with their new D-Type warbirds. Even on a prison colony, we heard rumors that they've been building those things and trying to keep the new design absolutely classified. I hope the Klingons got a really good sensor scan of them."

"They did," Data assured her.

"So you were sent out to find me? I suppose you thought I was some sort of defector."

"Perhaps at first," the android admitted. "Unfortunately your choice of planets to crash on was a poor one. A pre-industrial society lives here and the Prime Directive protecting its people has already been compromised in the past. My mission was to find and remove all evidence of you and your ship as quickly as possible and minimize the impact of your arrival on this society."

"Did you _hear_ him?" Lexi said with growing interest. "He said she _crashed_ here!"

"I'm minding my own business over here, kid." Jerral said in reply. He was lying on the rickety cot in his cell and folded his arms carefully behind his head. "It is not my problem."

"Unfortunately," Data continued as he glanced at the ever curious Lexi, "Knowledge of your crash has already been discovered. Some of the soldiers found your ship before I could hide it. Your weapon was captured along with you and I had to retrieve it from custody as well." He cocked his head to the side a bit as he mentally checked his internal chronometer. "It is beginning to get dark outside. I think that it would be in our best interests to leave as quickly as possible before more guards arrive to question you further."

"Oh you're leaving us are you?" Jerral said sarcastically from his reclining position inside his cell. "I suppose you're going to just open the door to that cage you're in and walk out."

"You are correct," Data informed him. He punched the lock on his cell door and crushed it with a loud metallic clang. Jerral watched in amazement as Data swung the door quietly open and walked out into the corridor. He immediately punched the lock on Tasha's cell door and opened it too. Noting that Jerral had risen to his feet in complete astonishment Data flashed him a brief smile. "These locking mechanisms are extremely rusty," the android noted.

"Take me with you," Lexi said, looking at Data with true fear in his eyes. "I've been locked up in here for almost two days now and my Aunt is probably worried to death. With you gone, I have no idea when – if ever – they will let me go home."

Data nodded and promptly forced Lexi's door open as well. The boy grinned and hugged him gratefully as he too joined them in the corridor between the two cell rows. Carefully surveying the other two cells he noticed that the peasants in them were still sleeping soundly.

"Hey, aren't you going to let me out too?" Jerral asked. "I don't want to stay here, after all. I've got lots of people to see and business to attend to."

Data stepped in front of the bars that separated him from the landowner and tugged at the cell door. "Unfortunately, the lock on your cell door is not rusty," he decided. Ignoring the irritated look on the man's face he led Tasha and Lexi down the corridor and past the sleeping peasants in the end cells. They rounded the corner leading away from the cell block and quickly came to a large, heavily-reinforced wooden door.

"What do we do now?" Lexi asked curiously.

"This," said Data as he cocked his head oddly to one side. He activated his internal diagnostic program, causing the positronic matrix that processed his higher brain functions to emit the precise signal that the _Yellowjacket_'s onboard computer was patiently waiting for. It took a couple of seconds and Lexi opened his mouth to say something else before the shimmering blue energy of a Federation transporter surge engulfed the three of them and swept them instantly away from the city of Vandahar.

* * *

"Wow! Can we do that again?" Lexi asked as he looked down at his hands and watched his fingers finish materializing. "Many of the Kanutu advisors are also great magicians, but that's the absolute greatest trick I've ever seen!"

The three of them were standing at the base of a small grassy hill in the steadily deepening twilight that immediately preceded the arrival of night time. "Let me show you another trick," Data said as he walked toward the hill. Instead of ascending its gentle incline, his image suddenly wavered and then began to vanish inside of it. First his feet disappeared, followed almost immediately by his legs and then the rest of him.

"That's pretty good too!" Lexi said with a loud laugh. He looked at Tasha with interest. "Where did he go?" She smiled back at him and just shrugged, glancing back toward the hill. Lexi followed her gaze and they both watched as the entire hill suddenly shimmered and then faded away completely. Instead of the image of a gradual, grassy rise they were suddenly staring directly at more of the region's dusty plains. Two spacecraft rested in the center of the area – Lexi immediately recognized one of them as Tasha's damaged shuttle.

"I _knew_ it," Lexi said with delight as Data suddenly appeared from inside the _Yellowjacket_'s open hatchway. "You have a ship too! You're _both_ from the stars."

"The _Yellowjacket_ is not mine," Data informed him. "I merely borrowed it to come here and rescue Tasha." He looked at Lexi with what Tasha perceived as a somber expression. "Both of these ships come from much larger space vessels that can carry hundreds of people to your planet. We visit you once in a while to see how your civilization is getting along with each other, but you must stop telling everyone what you know and help us keep our secret."

"So she crashed by accident," Lexi said, pointing at Tasha, "And you came to rescue her before anybody could find out that the rumors about people from the stars are true."

"That is correct," admitted Data. "Unfortunately my arrival was not in time to prevent you or the soldiers from Vandahar from finding her." He turned to face Tasha. "I take it you intend to formally request asylum within the Federation once I can get you back to a starship."

"I didn't risk my life and come all this way just to go back and make smaller rocks out of larger ones," she said with disdain. "I had no choice but to choose this planet… my ship took more damage than I planned for it and I needed a place to land where I could survive long enough for someone from your government to find me." She put an arm on Lexi's shoulder and hugged him. "I had no idea that this planet was inhabited – the Romulan computer doesn't even have a name for it, just a short reference that lists it as habitable for humanoid life."

They stood there silently for a moment as the last bit of daylight finally faded away. Data attached a Comm-badge to his chest and lightly tapped it. "Computer," he said. "Please activate the exterior lights." Almost immediately the small runabout lit up brightly enough to blanket the immediate area and keep it softly illuminated for them.

"They have search parties out you know," Lexi said with a soft voice. "I heard one of the guards in the cellblock talking about it. If they see the light they'll find you again."

"That is why we should all move into the main cabin of the _Yellowjacket_," Data pointed out. "Once we are inside I will reestablish the cloaking field that keeps both of our ships hidden from view."

* * *

True to his word, Data quickly concealed everything again behind his recorded illusion of the hill using Tasha's captured cloaking device. He joined Lexi and the former Romulan prisoner in the main living area at the rear of the runabout, programming one of its replicators to create two complete meals. Taking the plates from the device, he handed one to Lexi and one to Tasha.

"Thank you," Tasha said. Both she and Lexi began eating hungrily.

"I can offer you something to drink as well," he offered.

"Water would be nice," Lexi said and Tasha nodded in agreement. Hastily, Data retrieved a glass of cold water for each of them.

"I have been observing Vandahar very carefully since I first arrived," Data said with interest. Lexi accepted a tall glass from the android and began drinking thirstily. "It is my understanding that the city gates are closed and securely locked each evening and not opened again until well after sunrise the next morning. How did you come to be outside when Tasha's shuttle crashed? Is that not a violation of the city curfew?" He used a medical tricorder to analyze Yar while they continued visiting before picking up a dermal regenerator and using it to completely seal her cut. Expertly, he finished healing the injured area on her arm.

"They _are_ pretty strict about people breaking curfew," Lexi replied thoughtfully, chewing slowly as he set the remainder of a bun on his plate. "But normally they don't care if it's something simple like one person out hunting – my friends and I know where there are some old, unused tunnels that one person can crawl through. It's the old way they used to run river water into the city." He took another bite of food and thoughtfully looked at Data. "I always had a cover story prepared and was planning on telling them I was staying overnight with one of the local landowners if they caught me."

"Well, you certainly couldn't tell them that after my ship crashed." Tasha guessed. "Thanks for coming to my rescue… I was pretty shaken up."

"That's right," said the boy. "I knew when they first found us that I was in big trouble." He set his plate down and thoughtfully looked at Data. "But it isn't just the arrival of you two, though. I've been out for my morning hunt a couple of times each week for several months now and there have always been soldiers patrolling the area. I kind of expected some extra activity after hearing all of the rumors that King Zantu is going to attack us from the south… but it doesn't explain why they're shooting the mugato."

Data noticeably perked up at the boy's comment. "Interesting," he said attentively. "You have also found dead mugato as well?"

"Yes," Lexi said with more than a bit of anger. "They are creatures both magnificent and dangerous. We see them less and less these days, especially around our towns and cities. In the old days our hunters used to kill them for their fur and fangs, but why the soldiers would kill them these days – I don't know." He shook his head negatively. "Perhaps some of them want the fangs as a tribute to the old days… they certainly don't want the fur any more."

Data swiveled in his seat to a workstation built into the runabout's wall and activated it. He began checking the latest sensor information gathered by the computer during his time away, carefully studying the life sign readouts. The Alucarn military forces along the southern border of Vandahar had continued to grow and there was no doubt in his mind that an all-out attack was coming within a matter of days now.

"I know why the soldiers have been killing the mugato," he said simply.

"Why?" Lexi asked with extreme curiosity. "Are the fangs actually worth something?"

"Not the fangs," Data said mysteriously, tapping his security code into a wall cabinet. He removed a hand phaser from the storage locker and attached it to his belt, then closed the door. "You two will be safe here," he said. "I think that both of you should use the beds in the living area to get some rest. I will be gone for awhile and when I get back we will wait for the _Rhode Island_ to return from its supply run. That is the ship that will take Tasha and me out of here…" he glanced at Lexi… "And, if my mission is successful, I will request that you be allowed to return to your home in peace."

"Where are you going?" Lexi asked, peeking into the forward cabin of the runabout as Data stepped up onto a small platform. He saw the android typing even more information into one of the control panels on the equipment mounted on the wall of the small spaceship.

"I am going to see King Apella," Data responded as the blue sparkle of the transporter energy whirled around him and immediately began the dematerialization sequence. "It is most imperative that I speak to him before the Alucarn troops begin their invasion," he said right before vanishing completely.

"Come on back and grab a bed Lexi," Tasha suggested. "We might as well follow Data's advice. If we try to leave the area we'll simply get caught again." A puzzled expression crossed her face as Lexi looked at her in bewilderment. Suddenly remembering the language issue she grabbed the communicator that Data had left next to her plate of food. She touched it once and it emitted an electrical chirp, whereupon she repeated her previous comments.

"Okay," Lexi decided, taking a good solid look at all of the sophisticated equipment in the runabout. "This is _way_ better than sitting in that dungeon cell…"

* * *

King Apella was used to being disturbed in the middle of the night when the duties of his monarchy called for it so he was not at all surprised to find both Thadren and Sepenon knocking on the door to his private bedroom chambers in the early hours of the new day. Donning his night time robe and tying it loosely at his waist he answered the door and ushered them hurriedly inside for a private conversation. Behind him, Queen Maliya was also awake and patiently waiting as she always did.

"What is it? Has King Zantu begun his invasion?" he asked curiously.

"No your majesty," replied Thadren, "Although I am certain an attack will come soon. My scouts have reported back to me with updated numbers on Alucarn's troop movements and their artillery. It does not look good for us… they have nearly three troops for every one of ours."

"Some of our prisoners have escaped," Sepenon said snidely. "Including the boy and the woman we were interrogating yesterday. According to the witnesses in the other cells they simply rounded the corner out of sight and were not seen again. The door leading into their cell block was still tightly locked and the guards on duty swear they heard and saw nothing."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" decided Apella with an expression of wonder as he looked at Thadren. "All evidence of the mysterious incident that occurred on our soil less than two days ago is slowly and systematically disappearing… even the hand weapon we personally witnessed the General demonstrate to us is gone."

Behind them the room lit up with a blue flash and suddenly a shimmering band of energy appeared. All four of them watched in astonishment as the sparkling energy coalesced into a humanoid figure and then faded. Data stepped forward and held up a hand to calm them, focusing intently on the tall, bearded figure of Vandahar's King.

"I must speak to you Apella," he stated simply. "Your very life depends upon it."

"It is _sorcery_ my King," Sepenon gasped, his face turning white. "Do not listen to him… he is some kind of evil demon." Behind him, Thadren turned hastily toward the corridor intending to summon additional soldiers but the King stopped him with a shake of his head.

"He is _not_ a demon," Apella said firmly. "The people from the stars that my father met _also_ could move from one place to another in a burst of light. He is a man like us."

"You match the description of one of our escaped prisoners," Thadren said to Data, studying the contours of his face carefully. "I think we just saw a demonstration as to how you, the woman and the boy managed to escape."

Maliya pulled her own robe tightly around her and approached the four of them cautiously. Like Sepenon's, her face too was white with terror at the transporter effect she had just witnessed. "What is going on around here?" she asked with complete bewilderment.

"I _am_ one of those distant visitors from another world that you speak of," Data confirmed. "I am here because the Alucarn nation is massing its troops along the southern border that separates Vandahar from their territory. They are planning to invade any time now, and I think that the confrontation with your forces will most certainly be precipitated by an assassination attempt on your life."

"What?" Apella asked with disbelief, taking his wife's hand in his. "Surely you jest, sir."

"His theory does have merit," Thadren said after pondering the issue for a moment.

"It is not a theory sir," Data pointed out.

Thadren gave the android an irritated glare. "As you have said, Your Majesty, it doesn't make any sense for King Zantu to attack us when he knows Alucarn's forces will take major losses if they are to press forward and capture our city itself. However, if I were commander of his men and had foreknowledge that you were to be killed, I would simple mass my troops along the border as he has and wait until news of your death began to spread. Taking the city once its King has been killed and Vandahar's security compromised would be considerably simpler."

"Can you prove this?" Queen Maliya asked, looking at Data curiously.

"Of course," Data replied to her. "There are four of you standing in front of me, one of whom is the King. Someone amongst the other three is either planning premeditated murder or is cooperating with the person who is."

"How do you _know_ this?" asked General Thadren with growing interest. "And if you do have proof of what you claim then where is it?"

Behind him several of the castle's servants peeked into the room and studied the small group of people and their night time conversation. It was obvious that both of them had been sleeping and were awakened by the sounds of the discussion. One of them was a tall, slender young man while the other was a shorter, dark-haired woman. "Is anything wrong your Majesty?" the man asked curiously. "Can we bring you anything?"

"Everything is under control Shanno," the Queen said to him reassuringly. "You both may go back to bed."

"No," Data objected suddenly, peering intently at the two newcomers. "Please have them stay for a moment." He walked over to the two of them and carefully studied the long-haired male servant. His suspicions were immediately confirmed as the man gave Data a surprised look of recognition and turned to leave. Data grabbed him with one hand and held him firmly in place. "Where were you yesterday evening?" he asked the servant while everyone else simply stood watching them with expressions of complete confusion.

"I work in the castle," Shanno said simply. "I serve his Majesty King Apella and the lovely Queen Maliya, supreme rulers of all of Vandahar."

Data pointed at the man. "I recognize this fellow as one of the peasants who was locked up in the same cell block where I was imprisoned," he stated matter of factly, "He spent most of his time pretending to sleep, but you can all clearly see that he recognized me. Tell me Apella, did you or your soldiers feel the need to assign a spy in your dungeon to listen in on the conversations between the boy and the woman prisoner… or were you content to wait and interview them as part of your regular duties as King?"

"I sent no spy there," Apella responded, his face growing dark with suspicion. "These two are both assigned to personally handle my needs and those of my wife."

"I see," Data said with a glance at the bewildered Queen. "It would be in your best interests then, King Apella, to arrest your wife as soon as possible. She is planning to kill you very soon… probably your military leaders also. There is no longer any doubt in my mind."

"You lie!" Maliya said angrily to Data, glancing in complete shock at her husband. The tone of her voice was rapidly becoming heated. "Apella, how can you _possibly_ believe a complete stranger who appeared to us from out of nowhere with these ridiculous accusations? I think Sepenon was correct – he _is _a demon, sent to seed mistrust and confusion amongst our family." She glared at Data hatefully then swirled around to face the other two. "General Thadren, please arrest that man and throw him back in jail."

Ignoring her, Data flipped open his tricorder and carefully began scanning the room. The electronic whirring of its processor caused everyone to look at each other with growing wonder while Data carefully studied its sensor readings. "Even though I have the ability to transport myself instantaneously from site to site you may all be wondering how I managed to locate the King himself so quickly amongst all of the people who live in this castle," he said informatively. "The boy Lexi told me that soldiers have been killing mugato in the area surrounding Vandahar city for some weeks now. This was one of the factors that led me to conclude that an assassination attempt on the King's life was imminent. There is no logical reason, after all, for the city's troops to kill those animals except to extract the poison sacs from behind their fangs."

"My soldiers killing mugato? I don't believe it," Thadren said fiercely.

The tricorder's whirring changed to a loud beep that repeated over and over. Data closed the device and reattached it to his belt. "They are probably lower ranking soldiers who were told that they were on a secret mission for their Queen. The poison that they collected is how I came to be in this room – I simply transported myself to the largest source of mugato venom in the area. Not surprisingly, it is located in the jeweled box sitting on top of the dresser against the far wall." He pointed and began walking over to the cabinet in question but, her face turning purple with rage, the Queen hastily stepped in front of him.

"I said _arrest_ this man," she ordered, her normally attractive face a demonic mask of hatred.

"But the poisonous venom of the mugato is _not_ always fatal," Sepenon said in defense of Maliya. "I myself can cure its bite simply by applying the mahko root to the wounded area."

"All that means is that you are also to be killed," Data told him, ignoring the man's pale expression and stunned reaction. "I suspect the entire top level command structure of Vandahar is at risk, including General Thadren and his officers. That would be the natural way to cause the most chaos in the city's command structure. By the time anyone could reorganize your defenses, Alucarn's forces would be here to scale the walls and take control of the entire city."

"Move away from the dresser Maliya," Thadren suggested. "Let's have a look at what you keep in there these days, shall we?"

"My King," she said pleadingly, "You can't seriously think that I'd…"

"Move _aside_ Maliya," the King said furiously, beginning to grow very angry himself.

Most of the people standing in the room were emotionally stunned as they mentally reviewed the comments and accusations that had been stated during the duration of the considerably disorganized conversation. Thus the next sequence of events happened extremely fast, but for Data and his positronic android brain everything took place in slow motion.

"_Die so that Vandahar and Alucarn can live as one!_" Maliya screamed, pulling a knife from her robe and swinging it expertly at Apella. Data had discreetly positioned himself in the center of the room and moved quickly to step in front of the King. Her knife pierced his leather tunic and the pseudo-skin beneath, clanging loudly as it struck the metallic surface of his body. He grabbed her arm tightly with his right hand and took the knife from her with the other.

Across the room, Shanno and the female servant had also pulled forth long knives, both of which had previously been hidden in their clothing. Data quickly released Maliya's arm and used the free hand to give her a quick shove. She flew rapidly backwards and landed flat on her back in the middle of the floor, sliding to an abrupt stop as her head hit the wall.

Before anyone could even blink, Data had pulled out his hand phaser and fired it. The first orange blast of heavy stun energy lanced out and caught Shanno full in the chest, slamming him against the wooden framed doorway. He staggered once and then fell in a heap, causing the woman beside him to hesitate. Her eyes widened as Data's second shot struck her in the abdomen and she too collapsed, the knife she dropped clattering to the floor an instant later. Reattaching the phaser to his belt Data carefully handed the knife he held, hilt first, to Sepenon.

"Notice the colored substance on the blade," he informed the wizard. "If you analyze this knife and the poison in the Queen's dresser I think that you will find they are one and the same."

"Who _are _you?" Sepenon asked with complete and utter disbelief.

"He is a friend from the stars," King Apella said, bowing with respect to Data. "Thank you, my friend, for caring enough to come all this way and save our lives." Behind him, Maliya had risen to her feet and he turned quickly and grabbed her fiercely by the chin. "What did you possibly hope to accomplish with this hideous plot?" he demanded of her. "Were you planning to kill Yori too… your own son?"

"Yori is the son of your _first_ wife," Maliya sneered at him, as though that made all the difference in the world. "He is not of _my_ blood." Her long blonde hair was a complete mess and she tossed it back with one hand. "Don't think you are safe yet Apella," she continued fiercely. "Zantu is coming for me – we are to rule all of Vandahar and Alucarn together. You will see."

"That part I can personally guarantee you will never happen," Apella replied, shoving her angrily in Thadren's direction. "If even _one_ of Zantu's troops manages to breech the city walls I will _personally_ slit your throat."

A squadron of the General's soldiers had come running into the room during all of the commotion, so Thadren simply handed the former Queen over to them. "Take Queen Maliya into custody on charges of conspiracy and murder," he ordered, ignoring their puzzled looks of disbelief and pointing to the two unconscious servants. "Lock those two up also – there is to be no special treatment for any of them."

"Some of the General's soldiers were obviously approached secretly and commissioned to obtain the poison," Data pointed out. "There may be others in the castle or in Vandahar's military barracks who are also planning murder."

"We will interrogate all three of our suspects at first light of morning," Sepenon promised his King. "If there are others involved in this despicable plot of hers you can be certain that we will discover their identities as well."

Apella stood thoughtfully as he watched the soldiers escort his wife and the two servants out of the room. He was obviously deeply disturbed by her betrayal and sighed heavily, carefully tightening his robe around him to keep out the room's early morning chill. He cast a knowing look in Data's direction. "This isn't over is it?"

"No," Data told him. "Regardless of whether the attack on your lives succeeds or fails, I strongly suspect the Alucarn forces will be coming. Proceed with caution tomorrow as there are no doubt other spies in the city who will try and disrupt Vandahar's normal routine as well."

"The visitors from the stars who spoke with my father shortly before he died told me that they were very limited in how much they could help us," the King commented. "They called what had been done by the first evil ones who contacted us 'interference with our normal development'." He looked at his guest with more than a little concern. "Is that your position too? Will you stand by and watch hundreds, perhaps thousands of us, be killed in this useless attack?"

"Since your society's political structure has already been compromised by our presence several times in the past and also by this latest incident I do have more flexibility than the people your father last spoke with," Data decided. "I need to check in with my superiors, but it is quite probable that I will be allowed to assist you in preventing so many needless deaths."

"Is there anything that we can do to help you?" General Thadren asked curiously. "You have done Vandahar a great service this day, after all."

"Perhaps," the android said optimistically. "Tell me, on the eve of battle do your troops or King Zantu's pray to a higher deity – some sort of spiritual leader or God?"

"Many of us believe in Mordra," Sepenon said cautiously, glancing hesitantly at his King. He was still unsure just what to make of Data and the grand entrance that the android had made, so seeing Apella nod to him reassuringly gave him enough confidence to continue. "There are legends from long ago that Mordra – a large serpent goddess – hovers over our battlefields whenever there is a large conflict among our people. It is said that she watches our wars very carefully, separating the wicked souls from the pure and making certain that all of those with true darkness in their hearts perish on the battlefield. It is her way of insuring that good shall always triumph over evil and that lasting peace will be maintained."

"Intriguing," Data said slowly as he used his positronic matrix to carefully review thousands of potential ideas. "But I take it this goddess has never actually been seen by anyone."

"If she has truly joined us on the battlefield it has not been for many ages," Thadren said carefully. "Many of us do not even believe Mordra actually exists, since we have fought many times in my lifetime and no one has ever reported seeing or hearing from her. Some of our wounded claim to have been visited by her powerful spirit, judged and spared. But I personally don't have faith in those reports simply because many of the herbs and roots that our doctors use to aid the healing process are known to cause hallucinations."

"It will be morning in a few hours," said Data informatively. "I would recommend that we let King Apella get some rest. We know the attack is coming, but the advantage lies with us because my presence forced the Queen to attempt her assassination earlier than she had planned. That means we have some time yet before they invade."

"What do you want us to do?" wondered General Thadren.

"Prepare your troops as you would normally if I were not here," Data suggested. "If Alucarn's forces begin to attack, make certain you have a suitable defense perimeter established outside of the city walls." A small smile crossed the android's face. "If King Zantu's troops wish to pursue their invasion once it is clear that the assassination has not taken place, be prepared to retreat inside the city walls as soon as you receive my signal."

"And what will your signal be?" Thadren asked curiously.

"I dare say you shall know it when you see it," Data promised, taking a step back from the group of people. He touched his Comm-badge lightly. "Computer, I am done here – please beam me back to the _Yellowjacket_." They watched again in astonishment as the swirling blue burst of transporter energy swept him quickly away as though he had never even been there.

"Everything happened so fast we never even thought to ask him what his name is," Apella said with a loud chuckle. "Prepare your troops General Thadren, we may have to go through with this foolish battle after all."

* * *

Tasha woke up to the sound of Data and Lexi eagerly discussing something. Yawning, she rolled back the covers on her small bed in the rear of the runabout and took in a deep breath of fresh, _free_ air. Her entire adult life had been spent at war with the Klingons or imprisoned on a Romulan penal colony. To finally be able to look around and know that the next decision she made was completely up to her – _her_ choice – made her happier than she had been in years.

She knew the Tasha from this timeline had died, and having that knowledge had always made her extremely sad. This was the type of Federation she had longed to live in – where peace and the spirit of exploration were prevalent over war, poverty and death. The fact that her alternate self had been cut down in her prime was severely disappointing. As for herself, this Tasha Yar had been imprisoned shortly after her first escape attempt from the Romulans. Once Sela reached the age of maturity and assumed power within the Romulan government her daughter had ordered the sentence extended to a lifetime one to make sure that her mother would never see freedom again. Not unless she grew desperate enough to reach out and take it back by force, as she had finally managed to do.

That was where Sela had severely underestimated her. In both timelines, Tasha was a very intelligent woman and highly trained in tactical maneuvering. Knowing that patience and time were her allies she had simply waited for the proper opportunity to present itself and then she had acted. The fact that she had turned the tables and left Sela as an inmate in the very prison that her daughter had picked out for her to spend the rest of her life in brought a satisfied smile to her lips. Her daughter's treachery had been rewarded with repeated failures in her confrontations with the Federation and an abrupt end to her precious Romulan career.

"You're back," she said to Data with a friendly smile as she brushed aside her graying, uncombed hair and joined the two of them in the _Yellowjacket_'s forward cabin. "Did you accomplish everything that you intended to?"

"Yes I did," Data replied with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. She studied his expression intently, since she couldn't remember him ever mimicking human emotion so well. "I was able to successfully prevent the assassination of this region's King. Unfortunately, there are still thousands of troops to the south planning an attack on Vandahar."

"How is that _your_ problem?" Tasha asked him. "I've been gone for many years but not so long that I've forgotten about the Prime Directive. This is a pre-warp culture, so why are you concerning yourself with things that are strictly their affair?"

"This civilization has been interfered with several times in the past," responded Data. "Additionally, your crash landing here may have accelerated the murder plot that was underway as well as King Zantu's invasion timetable. Alucarn has many spies hidden in Vandahar, one of whom was the King's own wife. By now, they undoubtedly have heard the latest rumors of people and technology traveling to them from far above the clouds." He motioned to the empty plate next to Lexi. "It is well after sunrise… please have some breakfast."

"Thanks anyway, but I'm used to eating a lot less calories for now," she replied. "So you two have been talking while I slept. What are you talking about?"

"Dragons," Lexi said with a smile. "Data wants to hear all about Mordra."

"And just _who_ is Mordra?" Tasha wondered, smoothing a patch of the young boy's lengthy, tangled hair. Her own bedroom hair no doubt looked even worse, she mused silently.

"Mordra is the local goddess of war," Data explained. "She makes decisions about who lives and who dies during each battle – only the pure of heart supposedly survive. It is one of the ways the victorious cope with the post-traumatic stress of all the killing that goes on."

"I'd like to hear more," Tasha said, sitting down in an empty seat next to the boy.

The two people from the Federation listened intensely for another half hour as Lexi explained to them all of the details that the android wanted. He continually posed questions to the youth that were quite specific. What does Modra supposedly look like? How does she behave? Does she have magical powers? Have people in both nations of Vandahar and Alucarn heard of her? Tasha watched with some amusement as Data carefully asked his questions and Lexi answered each of them to the best of his ability. They were still eagerly talking when the Comm-system at the front of the runabout beeped for attention.

"_This is the_ Rhode Island _calling Commander Data. Are you there Commander…? This is Captain Kim checking in_."

Data swiveled in his seat and activated the runabout's transmitter. "Greetings Captain Kim," he replied. "You are early."

"_We added some extra wood to our fire and got our engines powered up to squeeze forth that little bit of extra decimal point that makes all the difference with warp drive_," Harry replied with a chuckle. "_I'm hoping you have a positive status report_."

"The primary objective of my mission has been completed and the situation is under control," Data told him. "However, I have discovered another serious political problem evolving here that is threatening to escalate into all out war. Our presence, along with the Romulan shuttle and its pilot has only served to aggravate the difficulty. I have a plan of action ready but was hoping that you would get here in time so that I could review it with you prior to implementing it. There is not much time remaining in which to act." He glanced back at Tasha and Lexi. "I am prepared to beam aboard the _Rhode Island_ and discuss it if you would like."

"_I've got a better idea_," Captain Kim replied. "_If you're as fast a typist as I hear you are then simply type up a written report. Transmit it to my tactical officer and I'll read through it while passing it along to Starfleet Command and Admiral Janeway. In the interim you have my full authorization to take whatever action is necessary down there. You're the officer on the scene and that means you're the best qualified person to make the decisions. I will support any action you decide to take_."

"I have already typed up that report," Data told him. "My mission has been completed for over four hours. I will transmit it to you immediately."

"_That sounds great Data. Do you require any assistance from us_?"

"As a matter of fact I do. I am planning to temporarily shut down the cloaking field that is concealing both my ship and the crashed shuttle. During that time, I would appreciate it if you would beam the Romulan vessel directly into your cargo bay."

"_We'll do that. What about the pilot_?"

"She is a human woman who was captured by the Romulans many years ago and has finally managed to escape from one of their prisons," reported Data. "She can be of use to me down here if she stays and I will vouch for her."

"_Acknowledged. We'll beam the Romulan shuttle up as soon as you signal us_. _You should also know that we found its engine pod floating around up here and managed to salvage it as well. A very fine job you've done, Commander_."

"One more thing Captain, if I may inquire. Does the _Rhode Island_'s entertainment database have any holographic programs that you know of containing the images of dragons?", he asked curiously.

"_Did you say _dragons?"

"Yes," the android insisted. "Specifically I am looking for big, dark green scary ones with long tails, sharp claws and lots of scales."

"_I'll check on that right away for you_."

"Thank you Captain Kim," Data said, closing down the Comm-channel. He turned to look at Lexi and patted him gently on the head.

"That guy is from one of the _big_ ships, isn't he?" Lexi asked, laughing with delight as he watched Data nod in agreement.

* * *

To Be Continued... of course!

A special thanks to **Le'Letha**, so far my biggest fan! If you think this Trek story is okay, you should read her work! Her imagination practically _LIVES_ on the Enterprise-D!


	9. Groundwork

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter IX: Groundwork**

Since Bajor was the host planet, General Kira was naturally up very early on the morning of the first planned peace conference. She scrupulously checked the main conference room one last time, making certain that pitchers of ice water and raktajino were strategically placed on the large table in the room's center. There were also four very large viewscreens, one in the approximate center of each wall… the installation of which was managed as well as possible considering the rather unique aspects of Cardassian architecture. Upon her first inspection of the room she had contacted the huge Xindi aquatic vessel and verified that each of them was functioning properly.

Curiously she stood next to one of the room's windows, watching the large streamlined ship slowly orbit the space station. Up until yesterday she had never even heard of the Xindi, but upon seeing the enormous starship and its distinctive blend of escort vessels she had begun wondering just what had brought them all the way out here. Although Commander Hazelton had mentioned that both Bajor and Cardassia were going to be matched up with other Federation allies who had offered aid in their rebuilding effort, she hadn't realistically expected to see one of those governments send an entire fleet.

"You're up early General," Admiral Janeway commented from behind her. "The Xindi certainly know how to make an entrance, don't they?" She entered the room and walked over to stand next to Kira. "Thanks for completing all of the official paperwork so quickly – I will send Bajor's latest petition for Federation membership to Starfleet Command immediately after this morning's meeting." The General nodded silently in response and both of them observed the large Xindi starship quietly for a moment.

"I don't know a whole lot about them, but they certainly know how to build spacecraft," Kira said with interest.

"The large vessel has many compartments that are completely filled with water and simulate an oceanic environment. It is crewed by a sentient aquatic species that is biologically linked to five others, one of which is sadly extinct due to wars fought between them long ago."

"Are they part of the Federation?" wondered Kira.

"Kind of," Janeway mused, trying to find the best way to explain the situation to the General. "Like Bajor, they aren't officially a member yet, but three of their five surviving species settled on colony worlds within our space. We helped them relocate there over a period of time after a conflict between our governments almost two hundred years ago nearly resulted in the destruction of Earth."

"Only three?"

"Early in their history, the Xindi destroyed their home world fighting amongst themselves. In the process, their avian brothers – at that time masters of the sky – became extinct. Determined never to repeat this mistake, the remaining five species of Xindi banded together in an effort to cooperate jointly for the benefit of all."

"Something must have gone wrong, since two of the species are no longer cooperating," Kira pointed out.

"That's right. When Starfleet first ventured into space and began its long-term exploratory missions we encountered an unstable area of space spanning almost 2,000 light years that the Vulcans called the 'Delphic Expanse'. A serious investigation of this region revealed that an inter-dimensional species of alien was trying to cross into our universe and terra-form a vast area of the alpha quadrant into an environment poisonous to us but habitable to them. The Xindi called these aliens 'the Guardians' and many worshiped them as deities since the aliens had helped them resettle and regroup after their internal wars wiped out their home world."

"I've heard of terra-forming planets and moons, but 2,000 light years of space?" Kira shook her head, continuing to watch the aquatic ship through the window in front of her. "That sounds like an incredible undertaking."

"It was, and supported by their Xindi friends the Guardians were well on their way to conquering that entire area," the Admiral continued. "The environment there was severely damaged and still hasn't completely recovered to this day. Severe waves of gravometric distortion damaged or destroyed any ships that dared travel there during a time when many ships had limited shield capability. In some areas the normal laws of physics simply didn't apply. There were many deaths, and as it turned out the Guardians could also see forward and backwards through time. They knew about the alliance between Earth and Vulcan and also that Starfleet – unchallenged – would eventually stop them before their project was completed."

"They didn't like that, I'm sure."

"No they didn't," said a grim-faced Janeway. "The Guardians next move was to contact the Xindi Council that represented all five of their species: aquatics, primates, arboreals, reptilians, and insectoid alike. They lied to the Xindi and told them that Starfleet was going to eventually exterminate them. Thus manipulated by the inter-dimensional aliens, the Xindi built a prototype weapon that killed over 7 million people on Earth."

"_7 million people_?" the General gasped. "What an absolutely terrible tragedy."

"If Starfleet hadn't stopped them it would have been worse. They were planning to destroy all of Earth and very nearly succeeded." Janeway was silent for a moment as she recalled the first time she had read about the attack as a child. "A starship Captain named Jonathan Archer managed to find proof of the Guardians' real intentions and convinced all of the Xindi except for the reptilians and the insectoids to help them stop the attack."

"Obviously they were successful."

"Yes, and the Xindi paid a heavy price for their error. The reptilians could not be reasoned with even after clear proof was presented that they were wrong. The Xindi Council was disbanded and the reptilians and insectoids left to find home worlds of their own. Up until recently, we had no idea where they were or what they were up to – but the other three species have kept in constant contact with the Federation over the years in an attempt to maintain good relations. When they heard that Bajor and Cardassia were having problems purifying polluted oceans and rivers as an ongoing result of your planet's occupation and the fallout from the Dominion war, their government approached ours and offered assistance. The aquatics are experts at decontaminating water supplies, and allowing them to contribute positively for the benefit of the Federation and its allies will help heal a lot of old wounds."

"I bet it will at that," Kira decided.

"Someday, we hope to invite them to officially join the Federation as your world is doing. But there are always lots of issues to address in any political forum, so the best thing we can do for now is prioritize them all and address the most immediate dangers first."

"What was it like being stranded in the Delta quadrant?" Kira asked curiously.

The Admiral's expression became somber. "Lonely," she said with a shrug. "From the outset, we had very little hope of ever seeing the Alpha quadrant again and we lost way too many people during our long trip home. In a sense _Voyager_'s crew became my children… I care deeply about each and every one of them." Her eyes teared up and she laughed. "_All_ of them still send me a message or personal letter now and then. I guess when you're completely isolated in hostile, unknown territory like that the people working side by side with you each and every day inevitably become part of your family." She looked respectfully at Kira. "You're Bajoran, so I would wager that you've been through some tough times yourself."

"I lost a lot of people I cared about too during Cardassia's occupation of Bajor," the General admitted. "Like you said, you either end up trusting other people around you and hold on to your faith or you don't survive long in a situation like that." She smiled a little bitterly at some of the memories that touched the edge of her mind before she quickly forced them away again. "The day the Cardassians left was the happiest of my life, right before I found out that the Federation was being invited in at the request of our improvised provisional government. You should have _seen_ the first time I met Captain Sisko."

"Were you gentle with him?" Janeway inquired with a smirk.

"Too gentle," decided Kira. "He ended up taking my office!" They both laughed and then grew silent, continuing to watch the parade of Xindi ships circling Deep Space Nine. Kira couldn't remember how long they stood there just watching the stars when suddenly she saw the wormhole open. It flared to life with a brilliant burst of gold and blue energy, swirling beautifully like the perfectly organized, remarkable phenomenon that it was. The Bajorans called it the Celestial Temple and no matter how many different ways Starfleet came up with to explain its existence Kira decided that she would never think of it as anything else.

Kira's Comm-badge chirped for attention. "_Ops to General Kira_," said Hazelton's voice. "_A heavy cruiser containing the Dominion delegation just came through the wormhole and is requesting permission to dock. I'm going to route them to upper pylon two and thought you would want to know_."

"Thank you Commander," said Kira gratefully. "I'll meet them at the airlock." Unusual, she thought quietly to herself. She had fully expected to receive the usual representatives already stationed in the alpha quadrant.

* * *

She hadn't seen much of the Dominion since the end of the war, so it was an extraordinary experience for the General as she watched a pair of _unarmed_ Jem'Hadar walk out of the airlock and take up a protective stance in front of the Vorta that followed them. He was a tall, spindly man with oily black hair and he greeted her warmly with about as much sincerity as she felt he was capable of feeling. He casually introduced himself as Mendau and she bowed in response before confirming to him that she was indeed General Kira Nerys.

Tensions between the alpha and gamma quadrant races were still reasonably high and she personally hadn't found much reason yet to trust any of them. She felt quite safe with the Federation security officers that stood on either side of her and was very grateful to have them with her. The Dominion had, after all, only backed down after losing a brutal, bloody war and even then had refused to do so despite the fact that the Founders who ruled them were on the verge of succumbing to a deadly disease that would have wiped them out entirely. Would have, that is, if it had not been for Dr. Bashir and…

"_Odo_!" Kira shouted with delight as her old shape shifting boyfriend proudly followed the Vorta out of the airlock. She watched him curiously run a finger up and down the edges of the red airlock door and pretend to check for dust. Grinning at her, his expression took on a look of concentration for a second and suddenly the dark blue civilian clothing he was wearing blurred and changed into a black tuxedo complete with bow tie.

"I heard you were throwing a party and simply couldn't resist visiting the station again," he said with one of his typical, nearly non-existent smiles. "It's good to see that you're keeping up the place… how is my replacement doing?"

"It will never be the same without you and you know it," Kira grinned, hugging him warmly and giving him a quick kiss. "I'm glad you made it back – even for a little bit."

"You would be astonished at just how _fast_ things have changed on my home world," Odo said with the most optimistic expression she had ever seen on his face. "The moment I first linked with my people and healed them of the disease that was killing them they began to realize what their version of 'universal order' has been doing to so many innocent people over the centuries. Keeping themselves linked and protected on their own private planet was a great way of ignoring the solid species of the galaxy but it definitely wasn't an enlightening point of view. Once they learned of the time that I spent here and the friendships I had formed there was a profound and immediate change."

"They're not perfect and neither are we," Kira decided. "You should know… you certainly arrested enough people during your time here."

"That I did," he said with pride as his clothing reverted back to the simple blue civilian outfit that he had previously been wearing. He watched the look on the General's face and could not help but notice her reaction. "What?" he inquired curiously.

"It's just…" Kira started laughing and had to take a deep breath. "Odo, I can't remember ever seeing you wear anything that wasn't brown or a tuxedo." She bowed in welcome to the entire Dominion delegation before gesturing toward the corridor. "Our first meeting starts very soon and I'll take you there if you'll just follow me."

"First things first Nerys," Odo suggested. "Before all of that, why don't you take us by the Promenade for a moment so I can scare the pants off of Quark."

* * *

The peace conference officially began on time and General Kira took a few minutes to introduce everyone. On one side of the table sat the Cardassian delegation being led by a Gul Mullis who had been recently appointed to power by the surviving members of his government's civilian Detepa council. Seated next to him was the very familiar face of Garak, and she noted that he looked extremely weary and exhausted from all of the responsibility he had taken on since returning to his home world. Next to him sat Odo and an uncomfortable looking Mendau. Obviously, the changes being implemented within the Dominion were some new ways of thinking that the elitist Vorta was simply not accustomed to dealing with.

On the other side of the table sat General Kira, Admiral Janeway, Captain Picard and Commander Hazelton as representatives of Bajor and the Federation. Once Kira finished her introductions, Janeway introduced the two Xindi representatives who were also present. The first was a primate named Jommyn, a tall well-built humanoid with jet black hair. His eyes were an imposing brown and he smiled peacefully at his introduction and bowed to everyone present.

The arboreal Xindi looked a bit rougher, had long sandy blonde hair and strongly resembled the Tellarite species. His name was Pykiim and he also smiled and nodded at the others surrounding him at the conference table. With an enthusiastic grin Janeway sat back down and then glanced toward one of the monitor screens to size up the medium-sized, whale-like aquatic species that could be seen swimming around in the foreground. There were two of them, each of which had a long tail and two arms with webbed fingers on them. One of the creatures waved happily at them through the optical imaging sensor.

"I'm not exactly sure how to introduce _you_," the Admiral said as her words were instantly translated and relayed to the Xindi vessel. "Perhaps I should just say welcome to Deep Space Nine and leave it at that."

"_We are the aquatics_," one of the whale creatures said, his voice instantly translated back through the speakers next to each of the four monitors circling the room. "_And we are extremely grateful to Admiral Janeway for presenting us with the opportunity to work with the Federation again in an effort to improve the quality of life for people who have undergone tragedies in their past similar to our own. We have a great deal of water purification technology at our disposal, much of which the Admiral has already reviewed. Your replicators should make the construction of the equipment needed a simple process_."

"Pykiim's people are also experts in forestry," said Jommyn with a pleasant smile. "They will be able to evaluate the eco-systems on many of your war-torn worlds and determine which plant species will help speed the elimination of pollution and other toxic substances from your food supply. We have been looking to officially reopen negotiations with the Federation and its allies for many years so I too would like to offer my thanks for your invitation."

"This is all nice and pleasant so far," Gul Mullis commented, "But we have some very immediate threats to deal with, not the least of which are the Breen. Many of the resources that we need in order to rebuild our member planets are on those Colonies that were ceded to us in our treaty with the Federation. As long as the Breen hold them then our reconstruction efforts will proceed much more slowly. I've already sent Starfleet a briefing noting just how many radiation damaged people we have to care for."

"That's where I can offer some assistance," Odo spoke up. "The cruiser I arrived on is carrying a large supply of anti-radiation medication specifically designed to counter the after effects of the weaponry used against your planets during our occupation of the Cardassian Union. We will also provide your doctors with the necessary data to manufacture more." He shrugged. "I considered asking the Admiral if I could bring a convoy through, but she felt the presence of another large Dominion fleet in the alpha quadrant so soon after the war might raise a few eyebrows over here."

"Well the Federation could certainly deal with that issue," Picard mused thoughtfully. "But I'm not so sure that the Klingons or Romulans would approve. After all, they took just as many casualties as we did, and they're known for being a bit less eager to trust."

"Aside from your permanent delegation stationed here in the alpha quadrant, I would also feel more comfortable if the bulk of the Dominion forces remain on the other side of the wormhole," decided Gul Mullis. "Many of my people would become very nervous if they did not, and another confrontation between our two governments would be only a matter of time."

"Believe me, we have our own rebuilding to do," Odo admitted. "The Founders have officially ordered the cloning facilities that manufacture the Vorta and Jem'Hadar to be shut down. From now on, they will have to reproduce the old fashioned way – and they will do so living on their home worlds. Working with information provided by Dr. Bashir and Starfleet Medical we have also managed to break the addiction that kept the Jem'Hadar dependent on Ketrocel White. For the duration of this crisis, we have made certain that those drug manufacturing facilities will continue creating the medical supplies as they are needed by the Cardassian Union in order to treat its citizens."

"Odo, perhaps we could send our own cargo vessels through the wormhole to pick up your medical supplies," suggested Garak politely. "That would prevent the need for a large number of Dominion ships to venture into the alpha quadrant, and we would still be able to get the medicine that we need."

"I will arrange for that immediately," the changeling agreed. "When they arrive in the gamma quadrant, simply have your ships contact the colony in the Dalanda system. I will make certain that all of our food and medicine is delivered to their storage facilities until they can be moved to the alpha quadrant for mass distribution."

"So what do we do about our mutual _Breen_ problem?" repeated an irritated Gul Mullis. They are occupying some of the planets on _your_ side of the demilitarized zone also. Doesn't the Federation defend its member planets?"

"We have urged restraint for the moment so that the situation can be tactically evaluated," Janeway spoke up. "The Breen entered the war in its latter stages and they still have a significant number of ships at their disposal to fight us with if we decide to engage them." She looked to Picard who sat silently listening to the conversation and sincerely wished she had gotten the news in time to brief him prior to the start of the meeting. "In addition to that, we have also learned that they are not acting alone."

The image of one of the aquatics swam closer to the optical pickup. "_We were always the objective bond that held our former Xindi council together, particularly when the reptilians or insectoids were upset_," the creature commented. "_They knew that they could look to us for an unbiased decision… once we got around to issuing it, that is._ _After our initial conflict with the Federation several hundred years ago, both of their races decided to venture out into the galaxy on their own. Eventually we sent out long range exploratory vessels and attempted to contact each of them so that we could ask them to return home_."

"What we discovered has not exactly been positive," Jommyn said flatly with a disappointed look on his face. "We are sincerely hoping to heal our old wounds with the Federation this time around, and that is why we felt it was imperative to offer our assistance on this project. In a sense, we are also involved with your… problems."

"What are you talking about?" Garak asked curiously.

"_We were unable to locate the insectoids_," the aquatic who had previously spoken continued. "_But we were able to determine that our reptilian brothers settled on a planet in a star system near the Breen home world. Although they are keeping their presence quiet for the moment, we have discovered that they have allied themselves with the Breen and are assisting them with their efforts in the Dark Nebula. Whatever is happening within the boundaries of that spacial anomaly, they are active participants_."

Picard stiffened in his seat. "The reptilian Xindi are _helping_ the Breen?"

"_Yes Captain Picard, and the purpose behind this newest exploit of theirs has yet to be determined_." The aquatic waved its arms in a very good simulation of a human shrug.

"_Why_ was this information not shared with us?" Gul Mullis said loudly, standing up angrily and glaring at Jommyn. "With outside assistance at their disposal, the longer we wait the stronger the Breen will become and the harder they will be to remove from our Colonies!"

"Sit down Mullis," Garak said gently. Despite his soft tone the Gul looked obediently at him and immediately complied with the request.

"Up until this morning we did not have any intelligence data to confirm that this alliance does indeed exist," Janeway said with a bit of regret in her tone. "All information that the Xindi and the Federation have acquired will be made available to you for review at the conclusion of this meeting. In the meantime I urge you to have patience, since the combined forces of the governments sitting in this room are more than enough to remove the Breen if a military option becomes necessary. Captain Picard and I do not feel that it will be."

"What do you have in mind?" Pykiim asked with extreme interest.

"Since we arrived here, I have been carefully reviewing the intelligence that we've gathered in the former demilitarized zone," Picard said informatively. "Both Cardassia and the Federation already have people on those Colonies whom we can contact to keep us updated as to what's going on there." He surveyed the faces sitting across from him. "Simply put, those Colony planets are a supply line that is being used by the Breen to provide resources to the effort that is underway in the Dark Nebula. If we cut off those supplies then it follows that the project they are working on will be affected as well."

"It sounds like you already have a preliminary plan of attack," Garak said intently, watching the Captain carefully.

"Two of them actually," Picard responded. "The first will be to determine the Breen's ultimate objective… that you can leave to me. The second thing we need to focus on is getting the occupation force out of the DMZ as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish that we're going to need everyone's help."

"What you propose sounds simple," Gul Mullis said cautiously. "But many lives have already been lost. How do we get the Breen out of our Colonies without provoking another bloody war that will cost us more ships and resources."

"That objective will be more difficult, but it is achievable," Admiral Janeway said confidently. "We make them _want_ to leave, and as quickly as possible."

Gul Mullis leaned forward intently. "Quickly is the operative word, Admiral. As you pointed out, I am also in contact with our civilians in the demilitarized zone and I can assure you that they're not going to wait much longer before they take matters into their own hands. I would be lying to you if I said that I felt this was a bad thing, since I _strongly_ support their right to defend themselves and protect their homes."

"Perhaps your plan could be modified so that both the Cardassian and Federation citizens could assist us," Garak suggested. "They're already on the ground in the danger zone, so it makes sense to include them in whatever plan we end up implementing."

"We _will_ need their help, in more ways than I can count," Picard said firmly, watching Garak nod respectfully to him. "Any response on our part to this occupation is doomed to end in bloodshed if it is not efficiently organized." He looked Mullis directly in the eye. "I have already spoken with my friends there, and they are willing to cooperate with whatever we decide to do."

"My people will as well," Mullis promised.

"Then both of you should get in touch with your contacts and give them a heads up," said Janeway, glancing from Picard to Garak and Mullis. "Tell your people to get their cargo ships ready for action – they're about to get a workout." She visually surveyed all of the faces in the room. "Is there anything else?"

"Just one small item," decided Kira. "During the war, Cardassia and Bajor managed to maintain and respect the fragile treaty that we signed prior to the outbreak of hostilities." She looked intently at Garak. "But I do not think that it is any big secret that there is still a lot of hard feelings that exist between our two cultures."

"What is your point, General?" Garak asked with interest.

"Recently we rescued one of the greatest spiritual leaders that Bajor has ever known from a planet she was marooned on in the gamma quadrant."

"Kai Opaka… yes, I believe I read the news report on her return. Congratulations," said Garak with sincerity. "But I fail to see what this has to do with our current situation."

Kira was silent for a moment. "I don't know how else to say this except to say it," she said finally. "We can help Cardassia rebuild its cities and heal its people, but the emotional damage will take much longer to repair. Kai Leos is currently Bajor's elected spiritual leader, and as a result Opaka has personally asked me if she could accompany Gul Mullis back to Cardassia Prime and live with your people as an emissary of Bajor."

"What?" Mullis said with astonishment. "That is _not_ a good idea. Guaranteeing the safety of a Bajoran in Cardassian territory at this time would be an extremely volatile security issue, not to mention the simple fact that we don't believe in Bajor's prophets."

"You don't _have_ to believe in our prophets Mullis," Kira reassured him. "Opaka has grown used to working away from Bajor and sincerely wants to assist the Cardassians in rebuilding their homes. She is offering to trust you with her life as the first step toward forgiveness between our people for our past hostilities."

"I still cannot guarantee her safety."

"Protect her as best you can," the General said with a smile. "Even though we've been separated until recently, I've known this woman for years and I think that your people will respect her once they hear what she has to say. If not…" Kira chuckled with amusement. "… then they'll discover quickly enough that she has the unique ability to rise from the dead."


	10. Wake Up Call

_As Admiral Janeway would say, "It's crunch time, Mr. Kim!"_

_

* * *

_

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter X: Wake Up Call**

Geordi was piloting Worf's shuttle when they finally arrived at their destination. Ahead of him on the forward viewscreen he carefully kept his eye on a growing blotch of starless sky with patches of bright blue radiation sprinkled throughout. Most of the nebula was composed of invisible dark matter, but the intense gravity of the larger objects inside was constantly changing and they inevitably collided with explosive results. At any given time, something was being torn apart in the gravitational turbulence and the destruction of that matter constantly emitted visible electromagnetic radiation that lit up the entire area. For a man who had recently regained his eyesight, the view was spectacular and he sat there for a moment simply admiring it.

His three companions were asleep in the rear of the shuttle, getting some rest while time still permitted it. He took a deep breath and decided to eat something before the others woke up. Reaching into one of the cockpit's storage compartments the _Enterprise_ chief engineer pulled out some sort of nutrition bar. Removing the wrapper he noted that it was green and hard and had red chunks of something in it. Taking a bite he cringed at the taste and decided almost immediately that the next mission he volunteered for would involve an uncloaked Federation shuttlecraft with a working replicator.

"I'll never make fun of Starfleet rations again," he commented wryly as he swallowed the bite of Klingon food. Next to him on the tactical panel a warning light flashed. Switching his attention immediately to the sensors he noticed that four Breen ships were systematically positioned along the perimeter of the nebula, directly ahead of them. "Hey guys," he said softly, turning his head to the three people resting behind him. "We've arrived at the tough part of this mission. It's time to wake up and earn those fancy uniforms."

Not surprisingly Worf was already awake. He had been lying on his back deep in thought and thus was the first to reach the cockpit. The huge Klingon brushed by Geordi and sat down in the co-pilot's seat. Riker followed him up with a sleepy-eyed Dr. Crusher at the rear. The cabin lights around them went dark and most of the consoles shut down as Geordi and Worf cut power to all non-essential systems.

"As far as I know, the Breen cannot track a cloaked ship," LaForge commented.

"The smaller the cloaking shield the better," Worf said. "If we were a heavy cruiser I would be more concerned, but I sincerely doubt that they will be capable of detecting us."

"They've certainly got the front door guarded well enough," Riker noted as they moved past one of the large Breen starships. He spotted several smaller vessels floating in the empty space next to it and tapped Geordi on the shoulder. "What are those?" he asked.

"I don't know, give me a second to check them out," the engineer replied. He pulled a Federation tricorder from his belt and interfaced it with the Klingon sensor system.

"What is wrong with _my_ library computer?" Worf asked, sounding a bit slighted.

"I don't think anything is necessarily wrong with it, but it sure hasn't identified those other ships yet," Geordi responded. "You might want to mention to Chancellor Martok that Starfleet still keeps better records than the Klingons do."

"I will be sure to mention it to him the next time I visit," Worf said irritably, listening to the tricorder whirring next to him. "Perhaps he will be in a good mood and spare my life."

"Our records identify the configuration of the smaller ships as _Xindi_," continued Geordi with growing excitement. He glanced back at the Commander with a look of concern.

"Xindi," Dr. Crusher said with a bit of astonishment evident in her tone. "We certainly haven't heard from _them_ in a while."

Riker thought the matter over carefully for a moment. "If I remember my history correctly," he said finally, "There are five species of Xindi and they each build ships using technology that is unique to their specific culture. Can you identify which are involved here?"

"I'll try," Geordi responded, carefully checking the tricorder results. "We haven't got any current records on the two species that left the Federation hundreds of years ago, but the power signature on those ships out there very closely matches our historical records of the reptilian vessels that rebelled against the rest of the Xindi and tried to wipe out Earth."

"Reptilians," said Riker. "Well, we've located one of those two missing species."

"What are the odds that they're doing something constructive in there?" Crusher asked.

"_Zero_," Worf snarled. "We must discover their intentions."

"I'm way ahead of you," Geordi said with a smile. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride." He eased them past another Breen starship and neatly between two of the Xindi support vessels. The last of the stars around them vanished and the small shuttle entered the outer event horizon of the Dark Matter Nebula. "Passive sensors are active," he noted. "We won't be able to conduct a detailed survey without using the main sensor array, but that would be detectable through the cloak. Even without them, we should be able to safely navigate through all of the invisible matter floating around in here and still make a detailed survey of the entire nebula."

"Why don't we just start with _that_," Dr. Crusher suggested, brushing back a mound of her long red hair as she pointed toward the right side of the view screen. Geordi's eyes widened as he saw the small golden orb of a tiny sun appear in the area she indicated. Thousands of variable-sized twisting red ribbons of scarlet radiation trailed outward, at first glance appearing to originate from the center of the star itself. Their shuttle shuddered a bit as something unseen struck the limited navigation shields in place beneath their cloak.

"Holy Hannah," Geordi gasped, watching the sensor console carefully. His tricorder was still connected to it and immediately began beeping for attention. "The radiation coming from that star is off the scale… it's interfering with our sensors, sub-space – everything." Again the shuttle rumbled as more turbulence pounded its hull. "I'm slowing us to one quarter impulse."

"What is that?" Riker asked.

"The catalogue – Federation catalogue that is…" he said, glancing with annoyance at Worf, "Identifies it as a star system numbered DNX-920. It's one of the few that has managed to survive amongst all the intense gravity of the nebula and still has one M-Class planet in orbit." He carefully double-checked the tricorder readings. "The Federation probe that surveyed this area fifty years ago did not record any trace of the radiation surge we're currently moving through."

"Will all that energy pounding against our hull allow them to see us through the cloak?" asked a concerned Riker.

"Commander, the entire area is a communication specialist's nightmare," Geordi told him. "We can activate full sensors right now and our sub-space transmitter too. But unless one of those ships is close enough to actually see us they're not going to detect anything through _that_ mess." He pointed to the twisting red panorama that now covered the entire view screen.

"It works both ways," Worf added. "We can't detect them either."

"So that's why they've got the blockade set up around the edge of the nebula," Dr. Crusher pointed out. "Because once someone gets by them there's no way to track them."

"We can certainly use that to our advantage," the Commander decided. "Mr. LaForge, set a course toward that star system. Let's see what they're hiding in there."

* * *

Another twenty minutes brought them within visual range of the DNX-920 star. Its gravity held only three planets plus an asteroid belt, and it was immediately apparent to everyone that the source of _all_ of the active radiation streams was actually the surface of the M-Class planet. Geordi angled their small shuttle toward planet number two and they detected two more Breen starships patrolling the area as they slid neatly into a high orbit above them. 

"Whatever they're up to down there, it isn't environmentally friendly," Crusher commented. "No wonder they picked this place to set up shop."

"No kidding," Geordi acknowledged. "The huge amounts of gravity from the invisible matter inside the nebula are soaking up all of the excess radiation that they're generating down on that planet. If they were trying whatever it is they're doing down there anywhere else it would be detectable for dozens of light years in all directions. Some of that energy is aggravating sub-space and traveling faster than light."

They stared in awe at a very normal looking planet with more land mass than water. As they continued to orbit, the source of the radiation became visible. On one of the planet's continents a huge funnel of scarlet radiation was pouring upward from a tiny point of dark red on the surface. As the funnel rose through the atmosphere, eventually reaching space, the radiation it carried was seized by the multiple sources of excess gravity within the nebula and torn into the thousands of multiple streams that stretched off into the distance as far as they could see.

"The reptilians left the Federation almost two hundred years ago," Crusher said with a look of wonder. "They could have been working on this project with the Breen for years… maybe even decades."

"I don't think so…" LaForge disagreed. "They may have had a plan outlined and all ready to go, but they didn't have all of the technology they needed to power it. Not until the Breen captured those Dominion power plants, that is."

"Are you still certain they can't detect a full sensor scan?"

"Commander I could get on the sub-space radio and holler at them on any frequency you choose and they won't hear us," Geordi said confidently. He activated the shuttle's main sensor array. "Beyond a few thousand meters the readings become completely distorted and totally unreadable. Klingon opera is easier to decipher."

"Perfect," Riker said in reply. "Let's head slowly into the atmosphere, begin a gradual descent, and start mapping the terrain down there."

"You make it sound like we're going to land, Commander," chuckled Geordi.

"We are, Mr. Laforge."

* * *

Another half hour found the small shuttle settled firmly on the surface of the planet at the base of a tall rocky hill. The cloaking device was still on, so anyone coming near them would continue to have a tough time detecting the scouting party from the _Enterprise_. Worf opened a weapons locker and began taking out Klingon phaser rifles until Riker noticed and glanced over at him. He was used to the Klingon's tendency toward overkill and shook his head negatively. 

"Our hand phasers will do just fine on this mission Mr. Worf," he decided. "This is what we call an information gathering detail, not a war." He turned his attention to the Doctor. "Beverly, how much of a health hazard does that radiation represent to us?"

"There's definitely a lot of it in the area," she said with a frown, opening the shuttle's outer hatch and scanning the area with her tricorder. "But as we noticed from orbit, they're venting most of it directly into outer space." She opened the med-kit in front of her and pulled out a hypo-spray. "I'm going to give each of us a shot just to be certain, but I think we'd be safe here for a week or two." Smirking at the Klingon tactical officer she commented, "Except for you Mr. Worf. You could probably stay here for an entire month without suffering any ill effects."

"Naturally," he replied, folding his arms in front of him as her hypo hissed against his left shoulder. "Klingons have always been the most durable."

"Worf, Geordi and I will make a quick survey of their base," Riker ordered as the Doctor gave him a shot too. She turned and administered an injection to Geordi as well before turning the hypo on herself and completing the procedure. "Dr. Crusher, we'll need you to stand by here at the shuttle in case we need a contingency plan. Give us twelve hours to return."

"Why would we need a contingency plan?" she asked, ignoring the irritated glance that he gave her. She moved up into the cockpit and took a seat, re-activating the shuttle's limited sensor capability. "Dr. Crusher, you have the bridge," she said with a wry grin.

There was very little plant life in the area so the three officers from the _Enterprise_ were grateful for the cover provided by the rocky hills and rough terrain despite the difficult hike required. What plant life remained was rapidly wilting away from long-term exposure to the artificially generated radiation source ahead of them. After walking for nearly an hour, they paused at the crest of a high ridge and could see a huge military base in the distance beyond. Pausing to take a closer look at the large encampment, Riker whistled softly. Worf growled and said nothing while Geordi simply stared at the layout of the alien base with the appreciation only an engineer would understand.

Half a dozen large metallic domes measuring nearly a hundred meters in diameter and at least twice as tall were evenly spaced in a circle. At the very center of the base was a very thin, extremely tall metallic tower spraying a long tendril of dark red radiation high into the atmosphere from its peak. Scattered amongst a dozen or so larger structures were several lengthy buildings obviously set up as troop barracks. They were also able to pick out plenty of makeshift, hurriedly constructed warehouses along the perimeter of the base camp, obviously used for storing weapons, supplies, parts and whatever else the inhabitants felt they needed. On the outer edge of the camp farthest away from them was a landing pad with several shuttles and a squadron of atmospheric fighter planes… all sitting idle.

Geordi took a deep breath and paused, carefully reviewing the data on his tricorder. "The six domed structures contain the stolen Dominion power plants," he pointed out. "Quite probably the industrial replicators are also located inside at least three of them, hooked directly to the output of the power systems. That Dominion equipment alone is capable of supplying all of the power this base needs, but whatever is causing that massive reaction at the base of the central tower is powered by a huge, underground anti-matter core. They're firing a thin particle beam out of the top of the tower and using it as a conduit into space so that they can use it to vent all of the excess radiation that they're generating from the reactor at the bottom."

"Okay, so they used the replicators and the power plants to create all of that tower equipment that they're using to house the reactor," Riker concluded, scratching his head. "So the question remains, what the hell are they doing down there?"

"I can't tell… we're still too far away," Geordi said. "But it will be dark soon and we can move in then for a closer look." He settled down for a brief respite behind a large rock, making certain he had plenty of room to observe the camp while continuing to study his tricorder readings. Taking a cautious look up, he noted the dark orange tint of the late evening sky on the horizon and wondered idly if it was the planet's normal twilight view or simply an artificially created atmosphere contaminated by too much of the unfiltered radiation.

"Fine. I guess we wait a couple of hours until night time," the Commander decided. "Then we go down there and get some answers."

* * *

A night without stars and moonlight provided exactly the cover that they were looking for. The radiation pouring from the huge tower created a very sinister-looking scene around the center of the base and provided enough light for them to move in closer to a series of tall metallic poles that were evenly spaced apart and circled the entire encampment. It didn't take them long to determine that the complex structures generated force fields between them, creating a protective outer fence line to protect against intruders. As they approached, Riker and Worf also activated tricorders and all three of them began carefully recording everything they could. 

"That central tower in the center of the base is over six hundred meters tall," Geordi whispered to the other two. "And the way they're pressure venting the radioactive exhaust like that I'm sure that most of it reaches escape velocity and spills out into space before it can dissipate into the atmosphere." He took several deep breaths and paused. "It's easy enough to do with that particle beam they're using. As you can tell, the gravity here is significantly lower than Earth normal and this planet has a much thinner oxygen-nitrogen mix then we're accustomed to."

"How high does that force field reach?"

LaForge glanced at his tricorder. "Approximately 25 meters."

"We've got to get through that force field barrier so we can figure out what they're doing in there," Riker said, carefully watching two Breen guards patrolling the area near the fence line. "Once we take out those sentries, we have only a limited time before they'll be due to check in with their command and control so we'll have to hurry." He glanced over at Geordi. "Can you shut down power to one of those force field towers so we can enter the camp?"

"Sure I can, but they'll notice that even faster," he said. "I'd prefer to take out the guards first… at least one of them should have a remote control of some sort to shut down just one section of the fence line at a time. If we find that, then I don't have to waste most of our time finding a way to tamper with the grid's control system."

Carefully they moved in closer to the fence and took cover behind a small hill. The pulsating red and white light from the radiation flow atop the tower covered everything in a flickering, sinister glow that was constantly changing and more than a little bit unnerving.

Doing his best to remain hidden, Worf casually tossed a couple of rocks toward the fence and all three of them rocked back on their heels, waiting patiently. There was no immediate response and a couple of minutes later the Klingon tossed a larger rock after the first two. It didn't take long for one of the Breen guards to walk toward the noise and peer curiously through the invisible force field that separated him from the terrain outside of the base.

With a brief flash of gold energy a segment of the force field between two of the fence poles disappeared. The Breen guard cautiously walked outside of the enclosure with his disruptor rifle at the ready. He activated a security lamp on the top of his weapon and began a detailed, professional survey of the immediate area. The other guard had also grown curious and began following the first soldier. The light on his weapon also flashed on and both guards began carefully surveying the territory immediately outside of the fence perimeter.

With phasers set to heavy stun Worf and Riker popped out of hiding and shot the two Breen guards. Working quickly, they dragged both of the fallen bodies behind the small hill where Geordi was still crouching. All three of them rapidly began searching the two aliens, quickly disarming them and tossing aside their communications equipment. Worf had even started pulling off their boots and was checking inside of them when Geordi – shaking his head as he observed Worf's thoroughness – waved for attention.

"I found it Worf," he said softly, pulling a small device off the left wrist of one of the guards. He studied the piece of equipment briefly, rose to his feet and hastily practiced activating and deactivating the closest barrier that the first guard had originally shut down. He nodded at Riker. "Like you said, Commander, we'd better be quick about this."

The three Federation officers entered the alien camp, pausing just long enough for LaForge to reactivate the force field in order to avoid drawing undo attention toward it. Taking great care to remain quiet, they moved between two of the huge domed structures, passing by a large securely locked warehouse. They had to stun two more guards on their way in and finally ended up concealing themselves alongside one of the barracks. With the base so safely tucked away in the Dark Nebula and supposedly hidden, security was definitely present but thus far it was much lighter than they had expected.

"I still can't tell what's happening at the base of that central tower," commented a frustrated Geordi. "It's some kind of a massive tear in the fabric of space-time that also affects subspace too, but other than that the readings are off the scale."

Worf tapped the Commander on the shoulder and leaned down next to his ear. "I do not think we can risk moving in any closer and still avoid detection," he said as softly as his deep voice would allow. "We _have_ the tactical advantage. If we leave now there may still be a few questions to answer, but if they discover us then our mission here will be pointless. Captain Picard needs to see these tricorder readings."

"Agreed," Riker said, nodding to the Klingon. "It's time to fall back everyone."

They moved hastily toward the rear of the barracks and were ready to head for the fence line when they suddenly heard voices. All three of them dropped flat on the ground and watched a pair of huge reptilian Xindi emerge from a brightly lit doorway in the building next to them and slowly walk toward the central area of the base. Both of the broad-shouldered aliens were at least two meters tall and carried heavy duty rifles.

"Those guys look tougher than you Worf," Geordi whispered with a soft chuckle. He heard the Klingon next to him growl in reply. Carefully they stood up, listened for activity and then resumed their trek across the short distance that separated the rear of the barracks from the fence line. Unfortunately they only got a dozen meters or so before a brilliant flash of bright green disruptor fire tore a huge smoking hole in the ground in front of them.

As a large spotlight focused directly on the _Enterprise_ crew members, they turned and saw three Breen standing at the ready behind them along with two more of the reptilian Xindi. An armed pair of humans also emerged from the group and walked toward them, motioning menacingly with their hand weapons. All three of the Federation officers dropped their own phasers and slowly held up their hands.

"I told you we should have brought rifles," Worf said scowling.

The Commander cast an odd look at the humans. "Surprised to see us?" one of them asked with a sneer. He was tall and thin with short gray hair. "You didn't expect to find humans working with the Breen on this project?" He smiled confidently at them and gestured to the elderly dark-haired woman standing next to him. "My name is Malib and this is my wife Bemuu. We are former residents of the Volan colonies in the demilitarized zone."

"What are you doing here?" wondered LaForge curiously. "Why are you helping them?" He was rewarded with an angry frown from Malib.

"That is none of your concern," the man replied acidly.

"How did you know we were coming?" asked Riker, pointing to the area surrounding them. "Minimal guards, low security, an easily-obtained force shield control…" he took the device from Geordi and handed it to Malib. "You lured us in and then simply closed your trap."

"Really sir, you are a Starfleet officer," Bemuu said with disdain. "Did you seriously think a cloaking device was all that you needed to penetrate our defenses?" Her long brown hair was pulled tightly back into a ponytail which flopped from side to side as she glanced first at Malib and then Riker while chuckling with amusement. "These three so-called Federation officers passed right through the tachyon detection grid connecting the ships in our blockade and they never even knew it."

LaForge groaned loudly, then turned and punched Worf soundly in the shoulder. "That better be the last time you give me grief when I link my tricorder to your ship's computer. Those Klingon passive sensors of yours are crap… they can't even detect tachyons."

"My shuttle is _not_ an exploratory vessel," the Klingon said somewhat defensively. "It was not built for comprehensive research missions."

"Speaking of ships," Malib said pleasantly. "Our guests still have one setting out there somewhere, my dear. Why don't you and the Xindi run back to the barracks and roust some of the troops from their slumber – they're going to have to work tonight. Have them take portable tachyon emitters and begin searching the surrounding territory for a cloaked ship. We may not find it tonight, but by tomorrow evening I predict that we'll have it in custody too." He walked over to Riker and looked him directly in the eyes. "Are there more of you out there?"

"No, our team was kept small to avoid detection," Riker said with his best poker face.

"It makes no difference to me even if you are lying," Malib informed him. "Anybody else out in the open will certainly be caught. If, on the other hand, they're hiding with your ship then they will be captured as soon as we pinpoint its location."

One of the Breen stepped forward. The helmet and mask he wore was part of the standard armored, environmental pressure suit specifically designed and worn by all Breen troops to protect them while they were away from their icy home world. The faceplate he wore was also rumored to contain a universal translator. If so, it was an extremely simplified version of the Federation's own technology. The Breen nodded at the three Federation prisoners and said something that sounded like garbled electrical noise.

"Oh, these three?" Malib shrugged, pointing at the prisoners. "Lock them in one of the storage sheds. Tomorrow we will interrogate them, find out what they know and then kill them." He laughed politely. "Perhaps we'll put off the execution until evening… we'll let them see just how hot it gets in those sheds during an average day on this wretched planet."

With no choice but to obey, Riker and his comrades followed the Breen to one of the nearby utility sheds. They were quickly and expertly scanned, searched and stood by helplessly as the troops removed all of their communicators, tricorders and hiking equipment. Finally, one of the Breen opened the door to the shed and they were roughly shoved inside. The door closed almost immediately and they could hear it locked securely from the outside. Geordi found a bare spot on the metal floor and sat down with a sigh.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"We wait," Riker told him. "Our good friend Dr. Crusher has work to do."

* * *

It was a beautifully sunny, partly-cloudy day in the spaceport at Ropal city. Ro Laren casually walked down one of the streets past the assortment of cargo ships that were continually arriving and departing. The past twenty-four hours had been absolutely chaotic on all of the Volan colonies in the former demilitarized zone that still tentatively separated Cardassian space from Federation territory. The Breen troops had been searching and seizing at least some cargo from most of the arriving ships, and it made her feel good to know that the assistance Captain Picard had promised them was already having its impact. All of the people in the cities were growing very curious about the sudden extra security measures being used by the Breen to confiscate supplies from so many of the incoming vessels. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she heard one of the freighter Captains yell at a Breen commander. "Do you know how much money taking away all of this cargo is going to cost me? These are _medical_ supplies meant to _help_ these colonists. Not only are they expensive to buy even at discounted wholesale prices but if I don't sell them for a decent profit I'm going to lose my business."

The Breen commander on duty said something in his uniquely jumbled electronic language. One of the spaceport employees glanced helplessly at the Captain. "He says you're transporting an unstable medical substance that, until refined, could be used to manufacture explosives," the man said nervously. "He has no choice but to confiscate your cargo." He watched the Captain's face grow red with anger and shrugged. "I have to agree with him. That stuff you're carrying is almost as unstable as infernium… it just doesn't have the added danger of radiation that infernium carries with it."

"You won't see me bothering to do business on this planet again," the Captain snarled, turning his back and walking angrily back toward his ship. He stood next to a couple of his crew members and watched helplessly as a dozen Breen troops entered the open hatchway to his freighter and began unloading his cargo. Ro sized him up and instantly liked the look of the ship's Captain, and that surprised her a little bit since she had traditionally been hesitant to trust those whom she didn't personally know. The man also happened to match the description she had been given. He was a stocky, tough-looking native Earth American with a prominent tattoo over his left eye. She casually walked over to him and couldn't help but smirk.

"Are you having a difficult day?" she asked him.

"You could say that," the man replied. "Business has definitely been better."

"Don't the Ferengi have a rule of acquisition that supposedly states that war is good for business?" she said with a casual laugh.

"They also have a rule stating that peace is good for business," the Captain replied. "My name is Chakotay, and I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Ro Laren," she said, smiling in welcome at the man as she shook his hand. "Why don't you let me buy you lunch, since you're obviously going to lose your shirt on this trip."

"How can I refuse such a generous offer?" he said with a warm smile. He glanced back over his shoulder and took one last look at his ship. A dark-skinned Vulcan was standing next to the hatchway with a data pad, carefully keeping track of all inventory being seized by the Breen. "Tuvok," he called out. "You're in charge… I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Yes Captain," the Vulcan replied before promptly returning to his work.

The two of them walked away from the spaceport and moved gradually toward the market place at the center of the city. There were lots of shops and restaurants on both sides of the paved road they walked along but everywhere they went Chakotay noticed armed Breen soldiers stationed on both sides of each intersection. Most of the humanoid civilians went about their usual business and did their best to ignore the troops, although occasionally one of them was stopped at random, scanned and searched for contraband.

"I've been here many times before," he told her. "Although not recently. The place has changed quite a bit." He watched a man who had been detained and searched being led away for no apparent reason. From what he could tell, they had found absolutely nothing on him.

"They've been doing that more and more lately," Ro told him. "They search people, take them in for questioning and then we don't hear from them again." She shook her head. "I carry a knife with me all the time now… if they search me and find it I guess I really don't care any more. Whether it's forced labor they want us for, sexual favors or something else it doesn't matter. I've decided that at least one or two of them are going to die before I do to pay for what they're doing to the homes that we've built here."

"The abductions are precisely why we've advanced our time table," said Chakotay with a concerned expression on his face. "Your most recent report to Captain Picard was particularly troubling. The Breen have spent months confiscating virtually everything that could be useful to them from these planets and yet they're still here. What else could they possibly steal from people they've left with so little."

"They're starting to steal the people," Ro said angrily. "At first it was just the ones who spoke out that disappeared… lately it's whoever they randomly select."

The two of them walked into a brightly decorated restaurant and placed their food orders at one of the replimats. Once the food finished materializing, they each picked up a tray and sat down at an empty table to begin eating their lunch. Ro studied the newcomer carefully, trying to determine his angle in all of this.

"I know your name, but who _are_ you?" she asked curiously.

"I used to command a Maquis ship in the Badlands," he said after briefly wiping his mouth with a napkin. "While fleeing from a Cardassian patrol cruiser we were swept into the Delta quadrant and met up with the starship _Voyager_. My ship was destroyed almost immediately after our arrival there and the survivors from my crew joined Admiral Janeway's. I served as her first officer during our entire voyage home."

"So you're from that ship too," she said with a warm smile. "And you were also a member of the Maquis. So how come I've never met you before?"

"My ship was normally deployed deep within the plasma storms in the Badlands and was only around for a short time before we were transported halfway across the galaxy. Remember that Vulcan first officer I left in command of my cargo ship back at the spaceport? He also served with the Admiral as _Voyager_'s tactical officer." Chakotay smiled with confidence. "If you've managed to get the word out to your fellow citizens as well as your progress reports indicate, we're very close to giving the Breen a surprise they won't soon forget."

"I'm going to hold you to that Chakotay," Ro said firmly. "Enough good people have already been taken from their families. No one knows whether they're alive or dead."

He took a bite of his sandwich and neither of them spoke for a few moments. They just watched the people drifting by and the expressions of concern that they wore. The day was a cheery one, mostly sunny and bright with fresh air all around, yet the mood of the civilian residents was extremely depressed. It was most definitely a population in need of help.

"I think you should lose the knife," decided Chakotay. "If you _are _captured and taken away with the others then we'll have someone with Starfleet training on the inside of their kidnapping network. It won't do the people who have already been abducted any good if you're killed before you can help us locate them."

"I'll get rid of it as soon as I go home," she promised him. "What else do you need?"

"A way to get out of the city after dark," he responded. "You and some of your trusted friends are going to have to assist Tuvok and myself in breaking curfew for a few nights." He held up a hand after noticing the worry etched into her expression. "Relax," he reassured her. "We've entered the final stage of our plan. Undercover Federation and Cardassian operatives are doing the same thing on the rest of the colonies in the DMZ. We have to be ready by Admiral Janeway's deadline so that everyone can act at once. The Breen will never be able to handle a well coordinated simultaneous uprising on all of these planets."

"No, they'll just bombard us from orbit and be done with us," she said bitterly.

"Like hell they will," Chakotay disagreed. "You've obviously never served with Admiral Janeway. She knows how to play for all the marbles." He stood up and tossed his napkin onto his plate. "Thanks for the lunch," he said. "Leave your address with Mr. Tuvok at the spaceport and we'll rendezvous with your group tonight at your place after it gets dark. I will be out and about for a while yet… I have several other contacts here to check in with."

"Thank you Chakotay," Ro said, feeling more comfortable than she had in a long time.


	11. Flames Of The Dragon

**DISCLAIMER:** _The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come._

**Star Trek: Absolution**

_I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres._

**Chapter XI: Flames Of The Dragon**

The sound of war drums had been slowly beating in the background all morning and for most of the afternoon. General Krell, the sturdy, muscular commander of King Zantu's Alucarn army was quite pleased with the progress they had made. Just prior to sunrise their soldiers had officially crossed the border into Vandahar and begun moving northward toward the distant walled city. He had already received word of Queen Maliya's arrest and – although it made things more difficult – her failed assassination attempt was not expected to deter them in the slightest. The chain mail he wore felt tight and protective around his chest, he was looking forward to hearing the chaotic sounds of battle once again.

Their forces numbered almost twelve thousand strong and had steadily covered most of the twenty-five short kilometers that separated them from the neighboring capital city with little resistance. So far, all of the vassal landowners who regularly paid tithes to King Apella had simply vacated their homes and retreated back within the walled city as word of the enemy's approach spread rapidly throughout the surrounding countryside. The thousands of marching men simply continued their rapid march, leaving behind small teams to secure the captured homes.

Between confident shouts, horses' hooves and the constant background drumbeat the sizeable army had made quite a bit of noise as it progressed north. Most of their artillery, including the newer cannons capable of firing larger explosive shells, were at the forefront of the huge parade and anchored securely to large wagons being pulled by horse and rider. Leading the charge were Alucarn's toughest, most well-trained soldiers and these were also the most heavily armed. Many of them carried swords and were equipped with the new repeating rifles that had been developed and perfected over the past few years. Each of them could fire up to twenty shots before reloading was necessary.

For the past half hour they had been able to see the smoke from the fires of Vandahar's defensive camp on the horizon, most of which drifted lazily away into the bright blue windless sky. As they had grown closer to the enemy forces, all Krell had to do was make a casual visual survey to the north in order to see the puny three thousand or so enemy troops gathered in front of the city wall waiting for them. He had been prompting King Zantu to let him annex the territory of Vandahar for over six months now. The King had finally consented and given him permission to seize the enemy lands along with its prized walled city. The plot to assassinate the King had been proposed to Maliya almost as an afterthought… no one had been more surprised then Krell when she had greedily accepted the offer and agreed to murder her husband.

The General could see that the Vandahar troops had artillery as well but he had been counting cannons for almost five minutes now and didn't see nearly enough of them to be concerned. With the new explosive shells ready to go, Alucarn could easily shoot farther and rain death down around the enemy long before their cannons were in range to fire back at them. He had a bet going with one of his senior officers as to how long it would take before the entire enemy defense force turned and retreated back into the cover of Vandahar's protective walls. He was certain that by tomorrow morning all of this foreign territory would be part of Alucarn.

The city's formidable walls were of no concern to him either. The explosive artillery shells would bring down enough of the stone for them to force a surrender or – if the wall held – Alucarn's soldiers would simply set up camp outside of the city's weapons range and shoot bombs randomly inside of its walls until King Apella saw no choice but to cede his authority unconditionally to Krell.

That was the General's reward for all of this – most of his troops would return to Alucarn but Krell himself would remain behind with enough men to disarm Vandahar's milita and install himself as the new King of Vandahar. He looked forward to becoming royalty and had openly lusted after such power for years. If Apella had not yet executed the lovely Maliya, well… perhaps the General would decide to renew the peace negotiations he had held with her over the years, this time between just the two of them and in Vandahar's private royal chambers.

Krell's personal guard rode on horseback alongside of him and they all wore the distinctive green and black uniforms that represented Alucarn's honor guard. One of the soldiers held their nation's flag proudly overhead, displaying the two colored rectangles prominently featured on the white background. Both of the rectangles intersected with green overlapping gold and represented the royal and working classes respectively. At the very center of the flag was a woven picture of a very sinister looking dragon that symbolized both the Mordra legend and the strength of Alucarn's military dictatorship.

The General had been randomly checking in with his various battalion commanders all morning to evaluate their confidence level. Prior to breaking out and downing a small lunch while he rode he had concluded his frequent trips between the dozens of divisions of marching men and was quite satisfied that the morale of his troops was high enough to proceed. Having additionally ordered some of his other officers to also drop back and listen in on many of the conversations carrying on throughout the large army of moving men, equipment and supplies had left him supremely optimistic. There was no army better on this world right now, and never had there been one so ready for ultimate conquest and total victory.

He took another quick look at the pitifully small Vandahar defense force in the distance and grinned with delight. Krell was quite ready to begin chasing them back inside the still-distant walls of the city behind them so that they could finally discover that it no longer offered them the protection they hoped it would. A hasty retreat would buy them a little more time, but left them no opportunity to take their inferior artillery and heavier equipment along with them.

By dusk the General was looking forward to having captured all of the enemy cannons and distributing them amongst his second group of most trusted soldiers. He was still sizing up the Vandahar forces and counting heads when he heard a faint roar in the distant sky to the northwest. The sky was clear aside from a few wispy clouds, so the sound was definitely not thunder.

A moment prior to the distant rumble a few horses had begun to whinny with fright. The riders sitting atop them calmly patted the animals and gently tried to get the creatures to calm down. One of the horses, a handsome brown and white one, reared back on its hind legs and tossed its rider completely while several others began nervously prancing in circles. "Whoa," one of the soldiers said with concern, pulling back on his reigns carefully. The horse beneath his saddle continued to whinny nervously as the distant rumble continued to rapidly grow both louder and closer. Taking a look back toward the Vandahar encampment the soldier's eyes suddenly widened and his face turned white with fear.

"Look!" someone shouted, and even General Krell found himself becoming concerned at this sudden unknown. Directly west of Vandahar city a shimmering cloud of emerald energy had formed in the sky and was gradually coalescing into the distinct shape of an angry looking winged dragon beast that very closely resembled the graphic representation of Mordra on Alucarn's flag. The creature was at least thirty meters long with a dark greenish-black scaled belly and fiery red eyes. Its jaws were drawn back in a fierce scowl that revealed rows of sharp white teeth and behind its body a massive, lengthy tail with dangerous looking spikes all along its length waved angrily back and forth as it continued moving towards their position.

Upon sighting the creature, all of the Vandhar troops in the distance immediately began an organized retreat back inside the city. They completely abandoned their horses and artillery, concentrating instead on moving all of their people rapidly into the safety offered behind the large city walls. Although Alucarn's forces were still a reasonable distance away, they were close enough to observe each of the massive gates along the length of the entire wall facing them swing firmly shut and lock tightly behind the retreating soldiers.

"Continue forward everyone!" the General commanded. "This is an illusion of some kind. Vandahar is known for its Kanutu magicians who have lots of tricks but no real magic…"

The rest of his words were lost amongst the noise of panicking soldiers as the massive floating dragon's head turned directly to face them. Krell could see the expressions of pure terror on the faces of his men as a terrible screech of anger drowned out all other noise. Powerful lances of orange flame suddenly reached out from the dragon's scarlet eyes and tore a huge smoking trench in the ground directly between his forces and Vandahar's vacated front line. Although they were not close enough to see, the line its fiery eyes cut was over a meter wide and at least three more deep. Shouts of surprise and bewilderment could be heard everywhere.

The dragon was moving a bit more rapidly now and quickly closing the remaining distance between them. Its huge, webbed green wings flapped up and down with strength and confidence in the afternoon sun and the beast continued to roar with anger as it approached. Some of the dismounted soldiers made an attempt to stand their ground, raise their rifles and began shooting haphazardly at the beast. A couple of them even managed to point and fire a couple of the cannons into the air although they had no ability to properly aim the projectiles. The sound of gunshots caused more soldiers to hesitate as they realized that they were still armed and also turned to fire their weapons at the giant dragon.

* * *

Sitting directly behind Commander Data on board the _Yellowjacket_, Lexi grinned with delight. One of the consoles next to the android in front of him clearly showed a graphical depiction of the dragon image along with its moving head, tail and flapping wings. "So that's what this ship looks like to them?" he asked curiously as Data nodded in reply.

"While we were still on the ground I was using Tasha's cloaking shield to project the image of a normal looking landscape," he said informatively. "Now we are using a combination of images transmitted to us by Captain Kim to substitute the image of a live, animated dragon. The shield is quite effective… no one on the ground can see the ship behind the illusion." On the forward viewscreen they could see dozens of Krell's soldiers repeatedly shooting at them.

Yar was in the co-pilot's seat and she studied the sensor readouts carefully before turning to Data. "The Alucarn soldiers are standing firm and putting up a fight, but Vandahar's forces have retreated into the city just as you asked them to. It's time to implement the second part of your plan," she commented with a smile. "I'm tightening the aft phaser width to minimum, reducing the intensity to one percent and altering the emitter array to a non-visible level."

"Thank you," Data said as he continued to move them closer to the thousands of men on the ground that composed Alucarn's invasion force. "Firing phasers."

Vandahar's heavy siege equipment still sat where it had been abandoned in front of the city walls. With the detailed precision only an android could muster, Data carefully adjusted the phaser-lock mechanism manually as the attenuated, now invisible cutting beams sliced through the tethers keeping all of the horses bound to the wagons and ammunition supply carts.

As if by magic, the invisible energy beams systematically severed all of them beginning with the entire eastern side of the defense perimeter and ending at its western end. As they were freed, the terror-stricken animals immediately began running for their lives. Neighing and whinnying with fright, the horses quickly turned away from the gunshots coming from Alucarn's soldiers in front of them and fled to the east and the west.

As they grew closer to King Zantu's invasion force the sound of bullets bouncing off the _Yellowjacket_'s shielded hull became more noticeable. The small runabout with its projected dragon image was floating only twenty meters above the surface of the planet, and many of the shots from the soldiers below were accurately hitting their intended target. On the viewscreen, Data noted that several small groups of soldiers at the front of the army were responsible for most of the shooting while the remainder tried to calm the horses that were still quite unsettled by the loud roar from the ship's maneuvering thrusters.

"Their projectiles can't penetrate our hull, I hope." Tasha commented with concern.

"No they cannot. The cloaking device from your ship is designed to hide an entire Scout-Class Romulan shuttle with a crew of twelve. We are currently using approximately one third of the runabout's warp energy to power the dragon image surrounding the runabout. The rest of it is available for weapons and shields at my discretion."

"I have no idea what you just said," Lexi commented with concern in his voice. "But whether it was good or bad, please make them stop shooting at us."

Data's response was immediate. Once more the _Yellowjacket_'s forward phasers fired, carving another channel – this time directly in front of the Alucarn invasion army's front line. From the perspective of the soldiers on the ground, the left eye of the approaching dragon emitted an orange beam of flame that started on the eastern side of the artillery line and quickly burned a dark smoking line in the ground toward the west. Likewise, Mordra's right eye fired toward the west and the second phaser furrowed into the ground and burned rapidly toward the east. Both of the energy beams met in the center of the army and promptly vanished, leaving a second huge, burning furrow in front of the frightened invaders that was less than ten meters away from the feet of the troops who – until seconds before – had still been shooting.

Completely taken by surprise, many of the soldiers dropped their weapons, but _all_ of them ended up turning tail and running. General Krell and his officers held up their hands and shouted in a futile effort to try and stop the mob panic, but they failed miserably as the flood of frightened soldiers quickly dragged them along. To continue to try and hold their ground would easily have gotten them all trampled to death by human feet, horses' hooves or both. Krell had seen a lot of fighting in his lifetime and was not a man easily unnerved, but he glanced up into the sky at the huge green dragon floating in front of him and felt more fear than he could remember since the days when he was a small child who knew that he had angered his parents.

The General's most well-trained soldiers, situated at the front of the invasion force, actually ended up panicking the most. Since the entire rear two thirds of the army was closely packed with marching men instead of riders on horseback, it took time for thousands and thousands of them to retreat far enough south so that the men in front could begin falling back as well. Each moment that the soldiers up front spent waiting for their turn to flee seemed like an eternity, and they had no choice but to stand and watch helplessly as Mordra continued to fly slowly toward them with her red eyes burning in anger. When their opportunity to turn and run arrived, virtually all of them immediately did so.

* * *

Inside the _Yellowjacket_'s forward cabin, Data continued to study the sensor readouts in front of him. "Tasha, please reconfigure the forward phasers to match the aft settings," he requested without glancing up. Behind them, Lexi watched the two of them efficiently do their jobs with his youthful wonder and curiosity. His gaze continually switched back and forth between the colored lights winking on the consoles in front of his friends and the out-of-control scene of panicked, retreating soldiers readily visible on the runabout's forward viewscreen.

"Done," Yar replied, watching the android fire the now invisible cutting beams once again. General Krell and the troops who were not yet in full retreat watched in absolute astonishment as the leather reigns and ropes hooking the horses to their artillery equipment and wagons began snapping and popping apart as if by magic. The procedure took much longer this time, since the Alucarn army had nearly three times the artillery of Vandahar's.

Patiently, the android took almost ten minutes to meticulously adjust and execute a rapid-fire phaser sequence designed to carefully free each animal from its attachments to the burden it carried and allow them to run for their lives. The fleeing horses were scared, but not so panicked that they failed to notice the most recent, still-smoking trench carved in the ground. They promptly split into two waves, just like their Vandahar counterparts had, and galloped rapidly away to the east and west in clouds of rapidly rising dry dust.

The dragon was very close to the Alucarn army now, and – temporarily conquering some of the enormous waves of fear rippling through his body – General Krell began moving back toward one of the abandoned cannons. He was debating as to whether or not he could get close enough to it and try turning its heavier firepower against the dragon when the decision was abruptly made for him.

Yet again the beast's angry eyes flared with power and the fully restored orange phaser beams sliced into the artillery line itself. All of the extra ammo, gunpowder and explosive shells began to detonate in dozens of clouds of fire as the phasers carved all the way through the entire supply line. Many of the cannons were instantly vaporized… the rest of them melted into pools of smoking, molten metal.

Krell glanced behind him and saw that most of his army was in full retreat – even his officers were running for their lives. Several hundred of the troops were standing frozen with fear, however, as they stared in awe and continued to watch the image of Mordra rain her wrath down upon them. The orange fire from the dragon's eyes continued to target the artillery, slicing through each and every cannon, wagon and ammo box.

Explosion after explosion rocked the afternoon country side and clouds of burning smoke and fire writhed like living snakes up into the atmosphere. With only a small breeze present, the entire area began to fill up with a choking black smoke causing the last of the soldiers, including Krell, to begin rapidly moving back toward the south.

Data watched the all-out withdrawal with growing satisfaction, patiently waiting until all of the fleeing soldiers had moved far enough away from the artillery line. Touching the Comm-badge attached to his uniform, he waited for the familiar electronic chirp before speaking. "Data to Captain Kim," he said with a hint of satisfaction, "We are ready. Please proceed."

"_Ackowledged_," Kim responded.

With sensor guided precision, the orbiting _Rhode Island_ fired a salvo of eight low-yield photon torpedoes down toward the battlefield, each carefully targeted to encircle the _Yellowjacket_ but yet impact far enough away so as not to damage its minimally shielded hull. Again the retreating Alucarn soldiers stopped and watched in terror as one by one the glittering scarlet bolts of energy flashed down from the heavens above.

The unbelievable sound of their explosions was deafening, followed almost immediately by a series of gigantic mushroom clouds of smoke pouring upward into the sunny sky. One of the blast clouds temporarily shielded the sun from the bulk of the soldiers and cast a sinister darkness on the still flaming, still smoldering battlefield. If the population of Stadia had never heard of hell before, then this day a great many of them at least knew exactly what it looked like.

* * *

Mordra the dragon beast continued her journey south and passed with a roar over the thousands of retreating Alucarn troops. Many of them dropped to the ground or took cover behind rocks or hills or among the few scattered groups of trees that dotted the open plains they had chosen to march across. They continued to watch in horror as Mordra, and all of the powers at her command, continued her journey south – directly toward their distant homes.

"Data what are you doing?" Tasha asked from her seat next to him. "They're retreating and you've accomplished your goal. Isn't it time for us to leave now?"

"Not quite yet," the android decided. "During your long absence I have grown quite familiar with the human mind and have even studied up on psychology. I did not observe anyone above the rank of General near the flag at the forefront of the Alucarn invasion force, which means that this King Zantu has severely irritated me. He hides safely tucked away in his castle where he secretly plots murder and orders his troops to maim and kill others."

"He _irritates_ you?" Tasha said with wonder. "Data you've changed!"

He looked at her and smiled. "Yes," he replied. "I have an emotion chip now, and although Geordi needed to fine tune it a bit after it was first installed I have grown quite accustomed to it." He continued to guide the _Yellowjacket_ toward the south, using the ship's forward viewscreen to carefully survey the countryside as it continued to pass below them. Turning in his seat the android glanced back at Lexi. "Where can I find this King Zantu?"

"Just follow the river," the young man said, pointing at a water source on the screen. "It's called the Yumaialin and it runs right past his castle. I've heard rumors from friends of mine that he likes to hunt and fish around there."

"Those soldiers will all claim they were just following orders," Data mused, adjusting their course to follow the winding path of the river toward the south. "But it takes a certain type of base mentality and a conscious choice for intelligent beings to pick up weapons and participate in expansionism and armed attacks on a peaceful, civilian population. It might do these men some good today to have to wonder for a while if their own families and homes will survive until tomorrow's sunrise. Shortly they will know exactly what Vandahar's soldiers felt like earlier."

"Most of them would probably be shot or hung if they refused to take part in an attack ordered by their King," decided Tasha. "That's often the way it works in the military."

"You have a valid point Tasha, and that is precisely why I want to make sure our message gets to the very top of Alucarn's command hierarchy," decided Data. "Often times if you spank a child and then leave, he feels tempted to misbehave again. In this case I think we must also put the fear of Mordra into King Zantu in order to achieve a lasting impression."

The _Yellowjacket_'s speed had increased again, and – still projecting the image of a mighty dragon in place of its usual appearance – the Federation runabout continued following the Yumaialin river's twists and bends. They passed over several small villages with a loud roar and eventually noticed a huge stone castle in the distance, sitting proudly atop a large hill. Lexi chuckled at all of the tiny people that came running out of their homes to get a look at the fearsome dragon, wishing he was close enough to see the expressions on their faces. "My home is going to be safe again after you're done here, isn't it?" he asked.

"Your home will be safe for quite awhile indeed," Data promised him, glancing at the sensor readouts. "The closest bend of the river comes within one half kilometer of King Zantu's castle. It is time to send him our message."

"What are you going to _do_, Data?" Tasha asked, almost afraid to hear his response. She could not recall _ever _seeing emotion in the android's expression, much less the mischief-filled look that he now gave her.

"King Zantu would not wage such an attack against a peaceful nation like Vandahar without a complete lack of compassion for all living things," Data replied with a distinct note of disapproval. "Obviously his huge castle and large army are not enough protection, so he does not feel safe enough to live there comfortably." The android smiled as his emotion chip surged. "So I'm going to use the ship's phasers to construct a moat for him." He glanced back at Lexi and watched the youngster smile. "We have discovered who the real adult is today."

The android's fingers speedily danced across the _Yellowjacket_'s control systems and they rapidly gained altitude. The viewscreen provided a view from below that showed lots of people streaming out of the castle and staring up at the huge beast that appeared to be floating above them. The snarling head of the dragon waved from side to side and then gradually looked downward as its long tail raised high in the air above. Once again the phaser beams flared forth from the burning red eyes of Mordra and touched the ground surrounding the castle, this time with their intensity set much higher.

One of the powerful beams burned deeply into the surface of the ground on the southern side of the castle and began slowly carving a circular trench counter-clockwise. The other phaser began vaporizing soil on the northern side of the castle and also moved counter-clockwise in a semi-circle toward the south. Each beam carved a 180 degree half circle into the land surrounding the castle and ended at the starting point of the other. Where only moments ago everything had been normal there was now a huge five meter wide, fifteen meter deep still-smoking moat surrounding the castle. Effectively, everyone on the inside of its perimeter was trapped there.

It's not really a moat unless it has water," Lexi pointed out with a chuckle.

"You are correct," Data acknowledged.

The large head of the dragon swerved its angry gaze toward the distant river a mere half kilometer away and its eyes again lit up with fire. The phasers carved deeply into the western shore of the river and furiously burned a channel directly between the closest bend in the Yumaialin toward the freshly dug moat. Data instructed Tasha to increase the phaser power gradually as the beams neared the moat, making certain that the tunnel continued growing deeper to allow plenty of room for the water to make a slow but steady downhill journey.

There was a lot of smoke and steam, but a great deal of the water from the river immediately began running along the new spillway and within a matter of twenty minutes – as they patiently hovered above and watched – began filling up the moat surrounding the castle to Data's satisfaction. Her mission accomplished, Mordra issued a final loud roar at the people standing outside the castle before once again turning south and rapidly rumbling away toward the distant horizon. The bystanders continued to watch the dragon depart with fear and wonder.

"Logistically, that's never going to work," Tasha said with disapproval, still a little taken aback by the android's passion for his newfound friends in Vandahar. "The sides of a moat have to be reinforced or the water will just wash them away and eventually it will collapse in upon itself. Simply carving one into the ground with the ship's phasers will never last."

"I am aware of that," Data responded. "Creating an actual working moat was not my goal. Giving King Zantu something to think about over the long term – and his soldiers some work to do – was the primary objective since it should provide a deterrent to future violence. No matter how well they clean up the mess that we have made down there a permanent blemish will remain on the land around the castle for some time to come. I believe the image will give Zantu cause to reconsider the next time he debates whether or not to wage war on a weaker population."

"How can you be sure of that?" Yar wondered.

"I have noticed that the violent, bully mentality is a rather simple one. King Zantu and violent people like him will always be tempted to hurt others, which is why I decided to put the fear of God into him and his people today. Vandahar's population also has observed much of this and will benefit from the experience as well." The android paused as he deactivated the _Yellowjacket_'s dragon-altered cloaking shield and accelerated upward toward orbit. "If that is not enough to stop him, then he may have to deal with additional visits from Mordra. Captain Kim commands the _Rhode Island_ after all, and since it patrols this sector he will be stopping by now and then to check in on these people."

The atmosphere began to thin beneath them and the star-filled void of outer space became visible in the windows at the front of the cockpit. Data kept the viewscreen's visual focused on the surface of Stadia so that Lexi could watch it fall further and further away from them as the runabout climbed rapidly into a high orbit. The computer locked on to the _Rhode Island_'s identification beacon and they closed the remaining distance separating them from the Nova-Class Federation vessel. The young Stadian hunter watched the large starship gradually grow both larger and closer in the runabout's windows and his eyes widened with disbelief.

"What a wondrous vessel!" Lexi said with amazement as the runabout began circling the large starship in order to give him a better look at its design. "How come you're letting me see this? Isn't it against your laws?"

"You have been very helpful to both Tasha and myself," Data told him. "You have provided me with details vital to accomplishing my mission here. Additionally, the assistance that you have provided has saved many lives, including that of your King Apella. I will make certain that he knows of this, since both you and he will be the Stadian contact points between my people and yours." The android waved a finger at Lexi warningly. "But you must not tell anyone of this… it must be a complete secret even from the Aunt that you live with."

"I won't tell anyone," Lexi promised. "I _swear_ I won't."

"Then it is time to land aboard the _Rhode Island_," Data decided. "I am certain that if you ask nicely Captain Kim will give you a tour of his ship."

* * *

King Apella had listened for most of the evening about the dragon that had saved them all. Captain Rendu would speak of nothing else, and Thadren had taken well over a half hour to brief him on the day's events. The troops and servants on duty in the castle were still whispering amongst themselves as they carried out their assigned duties – even Yori had watched the amazing spectacle from one of the tower windows and was still talking to his friends about the angry dragon that had provided such a memorable display. Apella and Sepenon had both patiently listened to General Thadren's report, and upon its conclusion the King had suggested that several scouting parties be sent out to verify that the Alucarn troops would not soon return.

_Return? How could they?_ The first soldiers to report in had verified that _all_ of Alucarn's artillery equipment had either been melted into slag or destroyed in the ammunition explosions. Still finding the flood of good news difficult to believe, the King had only to look out his bedroom window at the remnants of the battlefield in the growing twilight of late evening. The acrid odor of burnt gunpowder still filled the air and he could see dozens of fires still burning in the distance. The sight of the battlefield itself was all the evidence anyone needed to confirm that what they had witnessed was indeed real.

A battalion of his troops had gone outside of the city with horses and wagons, carefully maneuvering around the two large trenches dug deep into the Stadian soil. The Vandahar soldiers had found lots of abandoned rifles and swords lying about in the remnants of the hastily abandoned Alucarn camp. They had collected everything they felt was usable and dumped the rest of the enemy equipment into the remaining fires.

Upon hearing the final report Apella had taken several deep breaths – and drank several large goblets of wine – before managing to calm himself down enough to retire for the evening. The royal chambers seemed empty without his beloved Maliya but he was already growing used to the fact that she had betrayed him… a good leader didn't last long if he couldn't shrug off a tough loss now and then.

He wasn't at all surprised to see a bright blue energy surge appear in the center of his royal bed chambers – it was identical to the scene he had witnessed once before. The man who had visited them previously appeared to him again, seemingly out of thin air, and smiled with respect at Apella. The King studied the man's strange gold uniform curiously.

"You are a great leader Apella," Data said, bowing toward the elderly man. "You maintain enough soldiers to defend your nation and yet your army resists a policy of expansionism. Your tax laws are fair and your farmlands are full of growing things. I had to physically assault one of your soldiers at the gate in order to get arrested and was able to determine first hand that you treat your prisoners with compassion and respect until they get a fair legal hearing. Vandahar is a wonderful community, one you can be proud of."

"Thank you for all you have done. On behalf of my entire kingdom, thank you uh…"

"Data."

"Yes. Thank you so very _much_ Data," Apella replied. "Although as things turned out we don't exactly have such a wonderful Queen as I once thought that we did."

"We have a saying where I come from," the android informed him. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is sadly true much of the time with humans, and that is why you have my sincere admiration on so successfully resisting it."

"My father encountered the temptations of evil and managed to wrest himself away from them well before his death," the King said thoughtfully. "It took me awhile growing up as the next leader of this community, but he eventually taught me through example and experience that trampling on the people you govern can be very detrimental to your longevity. He was a good man who made some very poor choices early on in his life, and it has motivated me all the more to make certain I don't repeat his mistakes."

"King Zantu has newer artillery designs that he planned to use against you, with hollowed projectiles containing explosive powder that fire across a much farther range than yours do."

"From what my men have told me he no longer _has_ any artillery," Apella said, chuckling merrily to himself as he remembered the events of the day. "Thanks to you, that is. You said that you would send us a signal and you sure delivered on your promise Data – I will grant you that."

"I have transported several intact Alucarn cannons into the store room where you previously kept the hand weapon found by your soldiers. Your own military experts will be able to examine them and make certain that you are prepared if King Zantu should trouble you again."

"He won't," stated Apella confidently. "He is a coward who strikes from the shadows. If he is not hiding under his bed right now in total fear of what you did then he is certainly not sleeping soundly this night." The King sat down on the edge of his bed and heartily roared with delight, still feeling a bit happy from the wine he had consumed earlier. Settling down, he stroked his beard thoughtfully. "You are a compassionate man too, sir. Despite all of the battlefield violence, your vision of Mordra decided to spare _everyone_ this day, not just the innocent and pure of heart. Perhaps King Zantu and his people will take notice of _that_!"

"I am sorry that I had to scatter all of your horses," the android apologized. "They are beautiful animals and I wanted them out of the line of fire in case hostilities began before I could force Alucarn's army to withdraw."

"You needn't concern yourself with that," King Apella said with a large smile, casually waving off the issue with one hand. "We found a _lot_ of horses wandering around out there this evening. More, in fact, than we took with us outside of the city walls."

"I have returned the boy Lexi to his Aunt, and I think you should know I would not have been able to save your life without the information he provided to me."

"He will be _safe_ with her," promised the King. "His Aunt was extremely concerned for him and has been asking our magistrate about Lexi each and every day. I was planning to release him anyway, but had no idea that you were planning such a miraculous jail break." Again the King reared back his head and filled the room with laughter – this time tears appeared in his eyes. "I laugh because I am so deeply relieved…" he said with sincere emotion. "If not for you and your people there would have been many deaths today. When I saw the size of the enemy forces I immediately began considering an unconditional surrender, even knowing that King Zantu would have me and my entire senior staff executed."

"I think you will find him more willing to negotiate now," Data predicted. "And if he does not embrace the more peaceful side of politics you still do not have to worry about your people – mine will be checking in with you and Lexi from time to time to insure your safety."

"Perhaps someday…" the King said with a friendly smile as he sized up the man standing in front of him. "Perhaps someday your people and mine can become better friends as well."

"Perhaps," Data said with a smile, tapping his Comm-badge. "Data to _Rhode Island_, I am ready to return." The blue transporter energy seized the Commander in a glowing sparkle of dematerialization and he disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. Apella watched him go, his thoughts drifting once more to the afternoon chaos on the battlefield, and he filled the otherwise empty room with his booming laughter one more time.

* * *

Captain Harry Kim was waiting for Data in the _Rhode Island_'s transporter room as the android materialized on the platform. Data stepped down to join Kim and the two of them walked out into the corridor and headed toward the ship's hangar bay. "I transmitted your report to both Starfleet Command and Deep Space Nine," Kim commented. "You did a fine job down there Commander… I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you," Data replied. "No matter how organized and efficient we become, there is never a way to predict all possible outcomes in a complex situation such as this one. Thus I am grateful that everything worked out to our mutual satisfaction. I would also like to thank you and your crew personally for pushing your ship's engines to the limit and making the extra effort to return early to provide me with additional assistance."

"It's just a ship," Kim said with a warm smile. "We can always build a new one."

Data paused for a few seconds, glancing curiously at the Captain. "You are not being entirely truthful with me, are you?"

"No," the Captain admitted. "Please don't make me risk my ship's engines again."

"I thought so," decided Data. "I have yet to meet a Federation Captain who considers a starship to be 'just a ship'."

They entered a turbolift together. "Shuttle bay," Captain Kim said to the unseen computer and the lift immediately began to descend rapidly. "I heard back from Captain Picard. He is most eager to meet with Tasha Yar and debrief her."

"I expected that," responded Data. "She is alive in this timeline due to some very unique circumstances. I find it extremely fortunate that she has managed to return to us."

"Believe it or not I totally understand," Kim told him. "In a manner of speaking, I am an exact copy of the original Harry Kim just like she is a time displaced version of Tasha Yar. I was generated during an accidental recreation of an old Kent State experiment while _Voyager_ was stranded in the Delta quadrant." He smiled at the curious expression on Data's face. "It's a long story… perhaps we'll save it for another time."

"Where is Tasha now?"

"She's waiting for you in the shuttle bay," Kim said with a slow smile as the turbolift hesitated and then began moving sideways toward the rear of the ship. "I was hoping to arrange for guest quarters and have you both stay for awhile so that I could satisfy my own curiosity. But I received orders from Admiral Janeway for both of you to proceed immediately to Deep Space Nine." He held up his hands as though helpless to change the inevitable.

"I will send you an updated report," Data promised him. "There are some good people down on Stadia, and they may require further assistance from us." The turbolift paused and the doors snapped open to allow them access to the shuttle bay. Clearly visible were the damaged remnants of the Romulan shuttle resting alongside the hangar's far wall.

"Rest assured, my crew will conduct a thorough analysis of that ship before we drop it off at a starbase for you," Captain Kim promised. "Good luck Commander…" he paused as Data turned to firmly shake his hand. "Are you sure you don't want my Doctor to restore your skin to its normal appearance before you go?"

"That will not be necessary. I will undergo the procedure after rejoining my crew." Kim stood by the door and watched as the android and Tasha Yar climbed back aboard the _Yellowjacket_. The outer hatch closed on the snub-nosed, speedy runabout and moments later it moved steadily forward and penetrated the shuttle bay's outer forcefield before quickly accelerating to warp speed. Captain Kim gave them a quick wave for good luck before heading back to his bridge.


	12. NonLinear Discussion

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter XII: Non-Linear Discussion**

From his position in the rickety utility shed on the second planet of the DNX-920 star system, William T. Riker carefully watched the two Breen guards stationed outside of their makeshift jail cell. He was able to see out into the camp only because there was a small crack in an uneven seam between two sections of the building's hastily assembled metal framework. Both of the guards stood firmly at attention with their rifles shouldered and were barely visible in the night time darkness except for the shimmering scarlet light that continually emanated from the center of the camp. Neither of them changed position very often, so the Commander was confident that they felt the area was secure and were convinced they would have no further trouble from their three prisoners.

Worf and Geordi quietly sorted through the few pieces of equipment actually available to them inside the small structure with no luck. Aside from five large shovels, two coils of barbed wire and a pile of large wooden fence posts there was absolutely nothing else laying around that could be of use to them. Their location was still on the outer edge of the encampment near its force field fenced-in perimeter and the lack of available items to use for escape showed. Malib had not chosen to imprison them here randomly – having been warned that they were on their way he had simply used the time available to prepare a place for them that provided little opportunity for escape.

"I don't suppose you have any way to signal Dr. Crusher to come sooner than the twelve hours you gave her," Geordi said with a small smile. "I don't much like the idea of trying to break out of here in the morning daylight once normal base activity resumes."

"We'll be okay," Riker said, still surveying as much of the outside territory as he could manage to through the seam in the metal wall panels. "This planet has a 28 hour day so it will still be mostly dark out when the good Doctor makes her move. Besides, whatever they're doing in that central tower is occupying most of their attention."

"They used the power plants and industrial replicators to construct the parts they needed for its superstructure," Geordi commented, "And I was also able to determine that they're now using almost all of their energy output to keep a series of nearly impenetrable force fields in place at the base of the tower. Whatever their underground antimatter reactor is doing, they need the force fields to keep it tightly contained within." He frowned slightly. "Before they took it, my tricorder recorded some deep rifts being carved into subspace, so I think they're trying to poke a hole of some sort in our space-time continuum."

Worf sat down on a pile of wooden fence posts and said nothing. Riker was about to ask him for his input on the matter when the room's tiny, single light bulb suddenly flickered eerily and dimmed. Before anyone could say anything the walls surrounding them and the entire base simply disappeared. As the fence posts vanished, Worf collapsed onto the ground with an angry shout and all three of them stared in shock at the instantly vacated planet's surface. Everywhere they looked there was absolutely _no_ trace of the enemy presence. Daylight instantly flashed into being and the overhead sun filled the area in which they stood with staggering heat.

What they could see, however, was a medium-sized dark-haired human male standing in front of them dressed entirely in black. His hairline was slightly receding and he looked to be pushing forty-something years old. Riker put a hand on Worf to restrain him as the Klingon leaped to his feet and started to rush toward the mysterious newcomer. The man smiled at them and waved a hand casually at the empty surrounding area that – until mere seconds ago – had contained an entire enemy camp.

"My name is Daniels," the man said simply. "I have temporarily moved the three of you two decades into this planet's past so that we can speak privately. I have information vital to your survival and have assisted Starfleet several times in my past in order to ensure accurate continuity of this universe's primary timeline."

"I know who you are," Geordi said. "Your picture is in our historical database. You covertly served for a short time as a steward aboard the first warp five _Enterprise_ ship built by Starfleet. Your visits and the assistance you provided were the first real evidence we had that helped us to establish time travel as fact instead of theory. You're from…"

"The 31st century," Daniels interrupted. "Forgive me for being blunt, but my time here is short and I need to warn you that the matter you are currently investigating is rapidly approaching one of the _major_ focal points in the timeline that governs this universe."

"One of the major focal points?" Riker's implied question was two-pronged… he was curious as to what Daniels was talking about but he also wanted to prompt the man to provide details rather than confuse them with undecipherable technobabble.

"Many people describe time as a river that is constantly flowing in one direction – forward. This is a suitable comparison for our purposes, with the notable exception that the flow of a river is much easier to move backward through since all you need to do is turn around and physically walk upstream. Time travel is much more complicated, and requires at least some knowledge of the physical laws of our universe combined with technology to achieve."

"Why are you here?" Worf demanded. "It is my understanding that the Federation – even in the future – does its best _not_ to tamper with the standard timeline. Your mere presence here threatens this, as does your conversation with us."

Daniels gave the Klingon an irritated look. "I have dedicated my life to the study and maintenance of the historical timeline," the man from the future stated proudly. "And my work has taught me that there are certain crux events – specific instances if you will – that occur at key points in history. One simple event that happens or fails to happen can change all of time forever, and that is why people like me keep careful watch on the timeline… to make certain that it isn't tampered with and to insure that these crucial events take place with the desired outcome."

"Are you concerned with what is happening on this planet with the Breen and the Xindi?" Riker asked him. "Is this the _crucial _event that you are talking about?"

"More so than you realize at this point," was Daniels' slightly irritated reply. "The river comparison works for most discussions but for this one it is not always an effective analogy. I would like to use a new example, this time asking you to imagine what would happen if we poured colored dye into a river to track a particular set of water molecules. We can watch them flow downstream and we notice immediately that they do not pass by the same point again, _unless_ we were to break the normal laws of physics and travel back in time to the exact instance where they first passed that particular spot on the shore."

"During its exploratory missions, Starfleet has encountered quite a few of these crux events as you describe them," Geordi pointed out. "One of our first Captains, James T. Kirk, discovered a planet with a time portal on it and the interference in past history inadvertently caused by his Doctor almost changed all of history."

"Yes, we still use that Gateway in my time also," Daniels agreed with a small smile. "And the particular incident you have pointed out is exactly what I'm talking about and why I am here. I _know_ that you intentionally allowed yourselves to be captured so that your Doctor could gather the details needed to make your mission a success. You are very brave men to risk your own lives in order to guarantee that the information needed by your commanding officers is successfully delivered to them."

Riker folded his arms in front of him, looking a bit impatient. "Yeah?" he prompted. "I'm hoping there's more to this than your traveling through time just to tell us how brave we are…"

"Certainly," Daniels replied. "You are courageous but you're also not stupid. I know that you have an escape planned and I came here to assure you that the facility on this planet in your time _must _be destroyed at any cost. The experiments here cannot be allowed to continue or the future will be filled with unending violence and bloodshed for centuries to come."

"You _could_ have warned us about the Dominion when the Starfleet personnel at Deep Space Nine first discovered the wormhole in the Denorious belt," Worf argued. "But you did not. What makes this enemy operation so important but not the war between the alpha and gamma quadrants? Many lives were lost there, too."

"That was a conflict lasting years, not centuries," Daniels said as he stared directly at the Klingon glaring back at him. "It was part of the normal timeline and virtually all of the outcomes we took time to project favored the Federation. This is a vastly different crisis you are approaching because it is an attempt by both the Xindi and the Breen to conquer the alpha and beta quadrants, if not the entire galaxy. _And if you do not stop them they will succeed_," he said with an intense emotion in his voice so fierce that even Worf looked a bit surprised.

Standing in the afternoon sun with a curious look on his face, Riker helplessly held up both of his hands. "What do you want us to do?" he asked. "Why are you here?"

"To let you know how important your role in this will be," Daniels told him. "The Federation – and particularly your assignment to discover what is happening here – is quite literally a rock in the river of time. It is the boulder in the center of a river that causes the water passing by to flow around it rather than straight through. If the Breen and reptilian-Xindi alliance causes this theoretical rock to fall one way instead of the other, the resulting change in the flow of time will make all of the difference for centuries to come."

"Why are you here?" repeated Riker, his tone more insistent this time.

"I came to remind you of just what the Dark Nebula is and to give you an option that Starfleet would normally _not_ approve of." He watched the Commander grow even more frustrated and held up a hand to request patience. "No doubt you noticed almost immediately upon your arrival here that there are very few star systems remaining within this nebula. It is almost completely filled with black holes, brown dwarves and other invisible matter that we cannot see but which greatly affects the local environment. I have run hundreds of thousands of simulations on this region of space during my time and in absolutely _none_ of these projections does this star system survive longer than another two centuries. Eventually it will get caught in one of the nebula's stronger gravity streams and disintegrate just like all the other normal radiant stars have. _This planet does not exist in my time_."

"So what you're saying is that it's okay for us to bypass our normal laws against weapons of mass destruction damaging the environment. We should lay waste to the surface of this planet if we have to in order to stop whatever it is they're doing here," guessed Geordi. "If the star system itself won't even be around in a couple hundred years, there's also no chance that an indigenous life form could evolve on this planet in time to become an intelligent species."

"_I'm saying blow up the damned sun itself if you have to_," Daniels practically shouted at them. "It's _that_ important to your future… and _mine_, gentlemen."

Without another word he took a step backward and in the blink of an eye Daniels was gone and they were back inside the utility shed – restored instantly to their own time. No one spoke for several long moments as each of them carefully thought over the information that had just been provided to them. Worf cast a suspicious glance around the room before choosing to sit back down on the pile of wooden fence posts, growling with frustration.

"Well that was an interesting conversation," Geordi decided. He noticed Riker using the spy-hole to peek at the area outside, once again shrouded in darkness except for the eerie flickering light from the scarlet radiation in the center of the encampment. "Are the guards still there?" he asked curiously, watching the Commander nod in reply.

"They haven't moved," commented Riker. "Why would they? Unless we get outside help we're not going anywhere." Checking the horizon outside he could see no trace of the morning sun. "Daniels returned us to the exact point in time he took us from, so it looks as though we've got some time yet before our good Doctor arrives."

* * *

Hours later the morning sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, casting its usual orange glow through DNX-920 planet 2's thin atmosphere. Both Breen guards remained at attention on either side of the door to the small utility shed, while around them the darkness continued fading away and daylight slowly returned. Neither of the two soldiers had moved much at all for well over twenty minutes. They had a random routine down, however, where every once in a while one of them would circle the small building once or twice to make certain that its structure was intact and the prisoners were still confined inside of it.

Ever since the initial capture of the three Federation officers, the camp had been pretty much shrouded in silence. There had been a brief period of commotion just after the prisoners were locked up as several battalions of marching soldiers were assigned to encircle the camp, separate and begin searching outward from the edge of the force field perimeter. Each of them carried a portable tachyon emitter as they carefully hunted through the surrounding countryside in a gradually expanding radius. They knew that the cloaked enemy shuttle had come through their detection grid at the nebula's entrance, so for them it was simply a matter of time until they located and captured the enemy ship as well.

The search was a non-issue for the two troops guarding the prisoners and they had both mentally filed away the issue of the shuttle's secret location as not their concern. They stood at attention and focused instead on the task assigned to them, meticulously searching the immediate area promptly at random intervals to be certain that it was still secure. Everything appeared to be calm and – as Riker watched from inside the shed – both of the soldiers had settled into a definite routine. The silence in the area remained completely unbroken until one of the aliens heard a soft scraping sound coming from the ground off to his left.

The Breen guard whirled aggressively with his rifle lowered, listening intently for additional sounds. He did not immediately hear anything and cautiously began walking in the direction of the sound that he knew he had heard. As he rounded the corner and continued toward the rear of the structure an orange Federation phaser beam caught him squarely in the chest and tossed him violently backwards. The second guard anxiously watched his companion stumble back to the front of the shed, where he finally lost his balance and landed flat on his back. His rifle made a soft thumping noise as it dropped into the soft dirt next to him.

The remaining Breen spun and fired several bright green bursts from his disruptor rifle over the top of his fallen comrade and hastily moved over next to him. He stood alertly next to the unconscious man lying by his feet and angrily swung his rifle around the corner of the shed, firing half a dozen additional shots back and forth through the open space alongside the small building. He stood at the ready for a moment, extremely puzzled since he could not see anyone and was unable to identify the source of the phaser shot. That was when he noticed fresh footprints in the dust by the rear of the shed and curiously took a couple of steps toward them.

He too was caught by surprise as a second phaser shot from _behind_ him dropped him in his tracks. The energy surge shocked his body and he immediately felt numbed and began to lose consciousness. As he fell, the soldier was able to twist his body quickly enough to get a brief glance at the source of the heavy stun beam still burning into his body. Strangely, the source of the phaser appeared to originate _out of thin air_ and he felt extremely confused as his brain shut down and he tumbled backwards onto the ground.

The electronic sound of a phaser setting being adjusted could be heard through the morning quiet and someone knocked lightly on the outside of the utility shed. "Stand back," Dr. Crusher warned her friends inside. "I'm going to shoot the lock." Another phaser beam appeared, again seemingly out of thin air and instantly vaporized the door's electronic locking mechanism. As the Doctor reset her phaser to stun Riker, Worf and Geordi immediately emerged from the shed and stepped out into the early morning sunlight.

"Nice job Doctor," Riker commented, watching Beverly deactivate her planet-side surveillance suit's cloaking device. There was a shimmering wave of energy in front of the escaped prisoners and suddenly she was standing there, carrying a phaser rifle and wearing what looked like an orange jumpsuit with a matching helmet. She had three extra hand phasers attached to her belt and Riker immediately grabbed the extra weapons as Beverly cautiously removed the suit's hood. She shook her long red hair free and then watched carefully for additional enemy activity as Riker handed two of the weapons to Geordi and Worf.

LaForge immediately noticed that the Doctor was wearing four electronic pattern-enhancing armbands, two of them on her left shoulder and two more on her right. She hastily removed three of the devices and handed them to her friends, continuing to cover the area with her phaser rifle as the other three each attached one of the devices to his shoulder and activated it.

"There are _still_ transporter inhibitors active even inside of the fenced off area?" LaForge asked, watching her nod affirmatively at him.

"How come there are so many humans on this planet?" Crusher suddenly asked curiously. "That almost screwed up your whole plan Commander… I had to locate you by searching for Klingon bio-signs instead of human."

"We don't know for sure yet," Riker told her. "But it certainly appears as though at least some of the humans from the DMZ are cooperating with the ongoing effort here."

"There is only one way to find out for sure," Worf said irritably, wandering over to the nearest building. Before anyone could say anything the huge _Enterprise_ tactical officer disappeared inside. Moments later they could see flashes of orange phaser fire light up the structure's windows and seconds later he reappeared with an unconscious human male slung over his shoulder. The entire incident had lasted less than thirty seconds and – aside from the two phaser shots – had occurred in complete silence. "Do we only need one?" Worf asked curiously.

"Yes you idiot," Crusher hissed softly at him, pointing to the armband she wore over the top of her orange cloaking suit. "I'm not even sure that the pattern enhancer will provide enough of a target to transport one person through their inhibitor screens, let alone two."

"Then I'll take him," offered Geordi, accepting the limp form of the unconscious prisoner from the tall Klingon and leaning the stunned man awkwardly against his left shoulder. "I'm a lot smaller than Worf… one of you guys can return to the shuttle and then adjust the power output as needed to transport two of us at a time."

"Where _is_ the shuttle?" Riker asked in a low whisper, glancing toward the Doctor.

She pointed toward the sky and grinned. "It's hovering thirty meters directly above the structure they were holding you in. Your capture prompted them to send most of their troops outside the fenced-in perimeter looking for a ship on the _ground_." She pointed her tricorder at Riker and activated her Comm-badge. "You're our best pilot so you get to go first – I've still got one of Geordi's tricorders tied into the shuttle's computer and can remote command it from here." As she spoke, Riker vanished in a brilliant red surge of Klingon transporter energy.

They waited tensely for a moment while the Commander seated himself in the pilot's seat and adjusted the transporter settings to accommodate two people. "_You're next Geordi_," his voice crackled through Beverly's Comm-badge. LaForge held tight to their prisoner and breathed a sigh of relief as the scarlet energy surrounded him as well. After materializing on board the shuttle, he lowered the unconscious humanoid next to the small transporter platform and carefully rolled the man against the far wall. He joined Riker in the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilot's seat as the Commander beamed Beverly aboard, followed immediately by Worf.

"We're getting _way_ too good at this type of thing," Crusher commented, tossing the helmet from her survey suit toward the back of the ship. "It's not supposed to be this easy."

"That is why the best Starfleet officers receive advanced tactical training," Worf pointed out. "So that we can utilize the art of misdirection and confuse our opponents."

"She is right though Worf," grinned Riker with a loud chuckle. "We _are_ getting really good at this. When Geordi slugged you and complained that your Klingon shuttle can't detect tachyons, _I_ almost believed him." He glanced at the engineer. "I think you've been in too many of the good Doctor's theatrical performances… your acting just gets better and better."

"We're not out of the woods yet," warned the Doctor. "We've still got to get past that blockade one more time."

"I'm activating the ship's sensors," said LaForge, his fingers dancing over the console in front of him. "As long as they let the Doctor fly all the way inside their campground we may as well get a detailed record of what's on the ground here." He shrugged. "They did confiscate our tricorders, after all."

Sitting beside the engineer, Riker took a wistful look out the two small windows at the front of the shuttle and studied the domed power station closest to them. "I'm tempted to decloak this shuttle and fire on that tower right now," he said grimly. "All we have to do is overload the underground antimatter reactor and – like our friend Daniels hinted at – this entire planet will just disappear in the resulting explosion."

"Daniels?" Dr. Crusher repeated with a confused look on her face.

"We will explain later," said Worf from behind her as he guarded their unmoving prisoner. "There will be time for talk when we're safely on our way home."

"This isn't the time to be impulsive Commander," LaForge warned him as he continued working. "The bottom of that tower is surrounded by force fields powered by the combined output from those six domed generators. There's virtually no way you'd be able to get a shuttle's weapons through them before the ground batteries on this base return fire and shoot us out of the sky. If you try to take out the domes first to cut off the power supply, same result…"

"We'll activate the warp engines and ram our shuttle into the tower then," the Commander suggested. "Our own engine pod explosion should be enough to pierce those shields and cause a chain reaction."

"And if it doesn't, we're all dead and the Federation still has _no_ intelligence data as to what's going on down here," Geordi countered. "I'm with you on stopping the Breen Commander, but since when do we take orders from people who _claim_ to be from the future?"

"I know," Riker replied. "I just needed to hear someone else say it, that's all." He grinned at the man sitting next to him. "You're a wise man, Geordi – how's that sensor scan coming?"

"We've got a complete recording of the entire base including its underground reactor," reported Geordi with satisfaction. Through the shuttle's windows they could see troops pouring out of the buildings all around them. As they watched, the sky filled with emerald green disruptor fire as the ground based cannons abruptly began firing random bursts into the surrounding sky. "They've definitely detected us though… I'd say it was time we were leaving."

Riker agreed with him by firing the ship's rear thrusters and moved the shuttle rapidly away from the enemy base. The shuttle accelerated as it climbed higher into the atmosphere, while Geordi hastily deactivated the main sensor array and once again rendered them completely invisible. The Commander engaged the ship's impulse engines the instant they cleared the atmosphere with Geordi monitoring the navigation console carefully.

"Can you reverse our course in and plot us a quick way out of here through all those pockets of gravity?"

Geordi answered him by transmitting a series of coordinates to the helm and Riker studied them carefully. The shuttle banked and weaved sharply at impulse speed as it followed the projected computer trail and quickly left the planet behind. "Approaching point alpha," LaForge said cautiously. "Set engines to warp one point four with a one second burst… _now_."

The small Klingon vessel suddenly leaped forward through the nebula, decelerating from warp speed as quickly as it had entered it. Riker glanced at one of the smaller monitors in front of him and switched its visual to an aft view. The star system they had just vacated was once again a small dot of gold with countless ribbons of swirling crimson energy streaming from its center. The hull shuddered around them as they passed through a wave of the intense radiation but their navigational shields easily held. Again he sent the small shuttle through a series of high impulse turns, angling away from the entrance to the nebula for several long minutes before the computer prompted him to once again turn towards it.

"None of the vessels in orbit above the planet are following us," noted Riker as he took a quick peek at the sensor display in front of LaForge. "I don't think they detected us leaving."

"Approaching point bravo," was Geordi's sharp response. "Set warp factor one point two two and prepare for a three second burst… _now_." Once again the shuttle jumped briefly into warp, and LaForge noted that the experience was quite different without the normal star pattern to use as a visual reference. The _Daq_ emerged from its second jump on the perimeter of the nebula right where the computer had projected it should. "There's a lot of hard radiation out here. Slow to half impulse until we clear the nebula, then you can safely take us to maximum warp."

"Acknowledged," Riker said with his gaze riveted on the helm console readouts.

In front of them the normal stars of space appeared and they roared out of the nebula past the blockade of ships guarding the border and back into Federation space. As they accelerated once more to warp speed a series of warning lights flashed on the navigation console in front of LaForge. Gritting his teeth, he glanced over to Riker and shook his head with disgust.

"They've flooded the entire area with active tachyons," he reported grimly. "They knew we were coming and lit us up with them. Our navigational shields are literally glowing and – cloaking device or not – they can see us well enough to target."

"Well then, there's no sense wasting energy trying to hide is there," decided Riker as he dropped the shuttle's cloak and squeezed another couple of warp factors out of the ship's engines. "I'm powering up our shields… stand by for battle maneuvers everyone."

Geordi reactivated their sensor systems and briefly checked the edge of the nebula. "One of the Breen battle cruisers has left the blockade and is on a pursuit course," he reported. "There is also a smaller reptilian vessel right on their tail."

"We'll never outrun the Breen ship," was Riker's next comment. "Get on the horn Geordi and holler as loud as you can with that subspace radio. I'm going to flip us around into an attack run… hopefully we'll catch them by surprise."

"Detecting tachyons, ha!" Worf said proudly from his seat in the rear cabin. "_This_ is what my shuttle was built for."


	13. Civil Disobedience

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter XIII: Civil Disobedience**

For the purposes of her latest update to Starfleet command, Kathryn Janeway had temporarily borrowed Captain Picard's ready room. She sat comfortably behind his desk and carefully studied the face of the man on the monitor in front of her. Admiral Owen Paris had contacted the _Enterprise_ roughly ten minutes ago and requested a personal status report from her. So far the new Admiral's counterpart had nothing critical to say and Janeway looked upon that as a very positive sign. Paris was a confident-looking older man with a thinning patch of gray hair on his head and his expression was difficult to read as he considered her plan carefully.

"_So you've already assembled all of the resources you need to cut off the Breen supply lines from the demilitarized zone_?" Paris asked carefully.

"That's correct Admiral," said Janeway with a confident smile. It was her plan that they were going to use, but never being one to let ego get in the way of teamwork she had spent many hours working with Picard to improve its strategical design. "We've got a combined fleet of Federation starships, Cardassian heavy cruisers and Klingon warbirds standing by to cut them off once our preset deadline is reached. They've been blockading almost three sectors for months now, so we're going to establish our own safety net around _them_."

He took a deep breath and thought about the matter carefully. "_I must point out that your decision to arm both the Cardassian and Federation civilians is a _huge _gamble_. _If you are successful in flushing the Breen out of the DMZ we could simply end up trading our new problem in for the old one_." Paris shook his head with dismay. "_You're also counting on the Klingons and Cardassians to fight side by side… that part alone could end in disaster_."

"No one is more aware of those possibilities than the people on Deep Space Nine," responded Janeway. "I've spoken with Commander Hazelton, General Kira and Gul Mullis. They have all assured me that the Cardassian government is in no shape to antagonize the residents of the demilitarized zone in the same manner that it did back in the days of the Maquis. As for the Klingons, well… they're proven allies and will follow the orders of their Chancellor."

"_The possibility still exists for disastrous results Kathryn_."

"That it does Admiral Paris. But I've already spoken on several occasions with Gul Mullis. The days of the Cardassian ruling military class were fading rapidly even before they made their last ditch effort to team up with the Dominion. The civilians are taking even more control of their government with every day that passes. No one in their reorganized military holds a rank higher than that of a Gul. For the first time in their history, civilians make the final decision regarding the use of their troops and there isn't an egotistical Legate to be found."

"_Their efforts to reform their government are admirable, I must admit_." Paris decided. He carefully paused for a moment and mentally reviewed their conversation before continuing. "_What assurances do you have that the military won't try to take back control – their soldiers play a central role in backing a serious rebuilding effort, after all_."

"I have two reliable aces up my sleeve Admiral Paris. The first is the recently rescued Kai Opaka. She has journeyed to Cardassia to begin visiting with its population and plans to help them restore spirituality, peace and unity. Ordinarily I would have major doubts about a Bajoran traveling deep into territory that was so recently hostile towards her people, but if you've read my entire report then you already know what she was able to accomplish during her stay on that small moon in the gamma quadrant."

"_I'll grant you that_," conceded Paris. "_She is a remarkable woman_."

"The second ace we have is a Cardassian named Elim Garak. His background is quite remarkable and he used to be a major player in Enabran Tain's Obsidian Order – the Cardassian espionage unit equivalent to the Romulan Tal'Shiar."

"_From the information that I've read on this Garak, he's an unpredictable maverick who traditionally puts his own ambition ahead of everything else. Isn't that one of the reasons he was exiled to Deep Space Nine in the first place_?"

"Quite simply, I'm trusting General Kira on this matter. She still holds a Starfleet commission and knows the man better than I do. She worked very closely with him throughout the Dominion war, and tells me that since the death of Tain he has done nothing but work to improve the security of the Cardassian people. His ability to get nasty when he needs to is actually a plus for us, since he's running what's left of the Order. I have his personal guarantee that he will use that organization to impose new checks and balances on the military." She leaned forward in her chair to better emphasize her next point. "Admiral, I'm certain neither of us is naïve enough to believe that the Cardassian military will simply change overnight into an entity the Federation approves of. That's why I want someone watching them who has connections with us and can be just as devious as those who are still hungry for power."

Paris considered her words thoughtfully. "_I trust the military and civilian branches of the government will also be placing some restrictions on this _Garak_'s_ _newfound authority_."

"That's the plan Admiral," Janeway said with a hint of pride in her voice. "Once we bushwhack the Breen in the demilitarized zone, the Cardassian fleet will remain behind and keep the enemy ships we capture from moving to assist their friends in the blockade around the Dark Nebula. If everything goes as planned – and there's no reason it shouldn't – the Federation fleet will rendezvous with our new Xindi friends and flush the enemy out of the nebula as well."

"_Now that's the part that may not go so well_," Admiral Paris cautioned her. "_The latest report you sent me still lists a lot of unknowns on this planned second stage_."

"Agreed," nodded Janeway as she took a sip of hot coffee from the mug in front of her. She set the cup back on the Captain's desk and hugged its warmth tightly with both hands. "We have a few hours yet until we're scheduled to hear from the _Enterprise_ team that volunteered to probe the nebula. Unless they run into trouble gathering the data that we've requested, we should be able to adapt our plan of attack as needed while en route. Neither the Breen or the reptilian-Xindi have any reasonable claim to that region after all. Since the Cardassian and Ferengi territories border it on two sides and the Federation frontier is on its third they're technically guilty of trespassing inside of it as well as the DMZ colonies."

"_Ah but it's such an ideal hiding place to conduct secret and quite probably illegal experiments_," pointed out Paris with a distinct note of sarcasm in his tone of voice. "_What is your impression of the other three Xindi delegations that met you at Deep Space Nine_?"

"Thus far they've been notoriously friendly and have delivered on every promise of assistance that they submitted with their initial proposal," said Janeway cheerfully. "Some of the humanoids and arboreals have even inquired about applying to Starfleet Academy." She smiled and took another sip of coffee. "It's only a matter of time before they join the Federation, too. You don't need to be a prophet to see that one coming."

"_They certainly don't kid around when it comes to cleaning up pollution and hard radiation_," Paris said agreeably. "_What they've done in the former Delphic Expanse is truly remarkable. While you were stranded in the Delta quadrant we've been able to begin establishing new colonies on some of the star systems in that region. They've definitely done their best to make reparations over the years for their initial attacks on Earth_."

"That's precisely why I think a few risks at this point are worth it," Kathryn decided. "With the Borg and the Dominion out of the picture, bringing Cardassia and three groups of the Xindi on board will help stabilize this region and protect the security of the Federation for decades, if not centuries." She could tell that the plan she had formulated with Captain Picard was winning him over, especially after hearing Paris' next comment.

"_I like your mug_," he said, pointing toward the cup on her desk.

She held up the coffee cup proudly and grinned at its simple message: '_Don't argue with the Admiral'_. "This was a gift from your son Tom and his wife B'Elanna," she said with a cheerful smirk. "Your granddaughter Miral presented it to me shortly after I received word that I had officially been promoted."

"_My son has always had a sense of humor, I'll give him that_," Paris grinned. "_I want to thank you again for looking out for him and caring about him so much while you were both so far away from home. Your experiences together really matured him and also helped me take a second look at our relationship. We both owe you a lot, Kathryn_."

"Thank you Admiral Paris," she said, accepting the compliment with grace. "The next time I speak with Tom, I'll have him replicate you a mug of your own. Oh… and please be certain to tell Reg Barclay that I said hello."

Grinning cheerfully, she watched the work station's screen image change to a Federation logo with the words "End Transmission" emblazoned at the bottom. Standing up, she smoothed the front of her uniform and left the ready room in favor of the bridge. As she stepped out into the large _Enterprise_ command center, Picard swiveled in his seat and cast a curious glance her way. She almost laughed because she could tell immediately that he was trying to read how well the conversation had gone simply by studying her expression.

"It's on Captain," Admiral Janeway said confidently just before she disappeared into a turbolift. She didn't need to see the look of approval on Picard's face… it had been obvious from their first meeting that they made an excellent team. The chance to command a major operation from the deck of the Federation flagship was the opportunity of a lifetime, but even so she was finding her old Captain's concern for crew hard to shake. Her primary focus in organizing the best tactical plan possible was aimed primarily at minimizing the loss of life for everyone.

* * *

_Stardate 55419: 0700 hours _Enterprise_ time… Zero hour_

Janeway returned to the bridge promptly the next morning and immediately requested a status report from Picard. "The enhancements to our shield grid were completed as scheduled by the engineers on our night shift," he informed her. "Currently the _Enterprise_ and twenty-two other Federation starships are concealed within the McAllister Nebula near Minos Korva. All you need to do is give us the word Admiral, and we're on our way. Aside from our survey team in the Dark Nebula, everything is set and everyone is ready. Commander Riker missed his scheduled check in time, and I find that great cause for concern."

"Are you confident that we can adapt our plan sufficiently if he doesn't contact us?"

"Absolutely," decided Picard. "But _I_ need my officers back and _you_ need every ship in this fleet. So I took the liberty of ordering the fastest vessel I could find to proceed directly to the nebula and provide assistance to my team."

She smirked at him… they were really beginning to think alike. "Commander Data?" Picard simply smiled back at her and they both knew that the situation was under control. "I can't blame you for doing that, Captain." Janeway commented.

"Thank you, Admiral. We'll just have to wait a little longer to debrief Tasha Yar."

Janeway stood silently at the rear of the bridge and took a deep breath, thoughtfully reviewing their strategy one last time before officially making the final decision to proceed with their carefully prepared sequence of events. "Signal Vice Admiral Nechayev on subspace," she ordered. "Inform her that she and Gul Mullis can begin moving his Galor-Class starships into position on the Cardassian side of the demilitarized zone. Then signal the rest of our fleet to move out of the nebula and set course for our side of the border."

Counselor Troi was filling in for Worf at the tactical station and curtly nodded in reply as she quickly busied herself with the subspace transmitter. Picard glanced down at Lieutenant Brian Thaire, who was seated in Data's normal position at the helm station. "Mr. Thaire, adjust our course as ordered and engage at warp five."  
"Aye sir," he replied, making the necessary course adjustments.

"Messages sent," reported Troi.

"Hail the Breen," Janeway said firmly. "Send them our prerecorded message."

* * *

_Stardate 55419: 0705 hours _Enterprise_ time… _

Thann Vladi had been the Breen commander of the occupation force located on the colonies in the demilitarized zone since the closing days of the Dominion war. His people's fleet had initially retreated there after the female shapeshifter officially surrendered and his people had been working steadily to bleed the planets in the region dry of resources ever since. Their government hadn't officially told the Founders about the additional project already underway in the Dark Nebula, and after the collapse of the Dominion presence in the alpha quadrant the Breen had moved as quickly as possible to seize the opportunity – and the equipment needed – to speed along the ongoing effort there.

He had noticed several minor oddities of late, one of which was the steadily increasing number of ships arriving with cargo that failed to pass their security restrictions. It wasn't an outrageously high statistic but it had certainly drawn his attention as abnormal, specifically after the months that they had spent defining to the Captains of those commercial vessels just what supplies were permissible and those that weren't. Thann had simply shrugged it off and continued coordinating his people's activity throughout the colonies. He had plenty of troops and if those Captains wanted to lose money by donating expensive supplies to his cause – despite the fact that they were specifically listed on the 'do not transport' list – then he really didn't care. They simply wouldn't stay in business for long.

Today had started off just like most of the others, with routine reports detailing enemy ship movements and periodic updates as major changes were noticed. Of interest to him were the higher than average number of Cardassian warships patrolling the Union's side of the DMZ. This _was_ extremely unusual, to say the least, but Thann was unconcerned simply because he knew the Cardassians were famous for their use of intimidation tactics. Their government was in no shape to start a war in this region and everybody knew it – just like he knew the Federation would keep its hands off the situation as long as possible if their government felt it could achieve an eventual Breen departure from the area with patience and diplomacy.

It was late afternoon now on the Volan colony, and Thann continued to work at his desk in their highly-secured facility on the outer edge of Ropal City. As he kept busy, his subordinates continued to trickle in and out of his office with additional updates for him. Again he noticed something out of the ordinary on one of the reports, this time a list of statistics regarding increased civilian gatherings in public. His orders had made it perfectly clear that no more than three people were allowed to congregate at a time, and certainly not for longer than ten minutes.

Shaking his head, he noted with extreme dissatisfaction that the number of violations his squadron commanders were reporting was growing far too high. If things didn't change soon then he would simply order his men to begin arresting the offending civilians. The colonists were obviously planning some sort of uprising, but he wasn't really convinced that they could come up with any serious resistance while they were so completely isolated from the larger sovereign governments in the region. He was going to need to round up most of the humans soon anyway as they approached the final stage of their project and then the Federation would have no choice but to try and provide assistance.

He was still reviewing reports and congratulating himself on the efficiency of their plan when the work station on his desk beeped for attention. Thann activated its display screen and watched the image of Donis Dyl, one of his starship Captains, appear. Since both of them were wearing the standard helmeted armor necessary to their survival while away from their icy home world, neither man could see the other's expression. But the tone in Donis' electronic voice was immediate cause for concern. Grimly, the Captain relayed an incoming subspace message directly to the computer on Thann's desk.

Dyl vanished from the screen with a quick flicker and in his place was the image of a human female wearing a Starfleet Admiral's uniform. "_This is Admiral Kathryn Janeway, representing the United Federation of Planets_," she began ominously. "_By my clock it is ten minutes after seven in the morning… I don't know how the Breen measure time but since you're occupying our territories and interfering with the lives of our colonists I'm certain that you have a way to convert the number_." She paused for a moment and Thann watched her with interest. "_Simply put, your time is up. Your sensors will tell you that a Federation fleet is currently moving past Minos Korva to intercept your starships. A Cardassian fleet is also forming on their side of the border and plans to assist us. All Breen personnel have thirty minutes from the start of this transmission to immediately evacuate to your ships – not one minute longer. Do not attempt to take hostages and do not take any of your equipment with you. Violation of _any_ of these directives will result in severe consequences for your people_."

As her brief statement concluded Thann watched the screen in front of him go blank with utter disdain. He practically laughed at the obvious bluff and immediately ordered the sentries posted at the door to his office to signal a battle alert. It looked like this evening was going to be a little different than usual after all in the former demilitarized zone.

* * *

_Stardate 55419: 0712 hours _Enterprise_ time… _

Chakotay carefully stood next to Ro Laren's second-story apartment window and kept a wary eye on the street below. They could both hear alarms sounding in the distance and Ro laughed in the background as she carefully replayed the Admiral's recorded ultimatum to confirm its content. "She used the word '_convert_' in her message," he heard her call to him from the other room. "We know they expect the Breen to try and take hostages, but that's the all-clear signal they promised to send and let us know that they've scanned the area around all of the confiscated cargo and found it clear of captured human and Cardassian colonists."

"I'm sure the Breen locked it all away nice and safe in their secure facilities," said Chakotay with a grin. He shouldered the phaser rifle he held carefully and waited for the inevitable appearance of the enemy soldiers. "Why don't you send them our message?" he suggested with a knowing smile. "After all, we wouldn't want them thinking they're in total control of the situation any longer, would we?"

Ro adjusted the transceiver in front of her carefully to a specific subspace frequency that Chakotay had provided to her earlier that day. "What do I send?" she called out to him.

"Anything," he replied. "Say 'hello' if you want. Just make certain that you transmit your message using the precise setting that I gave to you."

Ro Laren activated the transmitter. Tentatively she glanced into its visual pickup and said cautiously, "Hello… this is a test. Can anybody hear me?" The response was virtually immediate – in the far off distance they could hear the sound of several large explosions. Several seconds later, additional explosions rocked the otherwise quiet afternoon and more detonations continued to shatter the afternoon silence every few seconds for the next few minutes.

The transmission that Ro sent connected to another subspace receiver and a Cardassian female appeared on her screen. "_Ropal City? This is Tannis Dane, governor of the Tuudzyn province. We hear you loud and clear_." Once again, Ro could hear the sound of additional explosions on the Cardassian end of the transmission. "_It works_!" Tannis said with obvious glee. "_We will contact the next colony and continue the chain reaction_!"

Ro promptly shut off the subspace radio and joined Chakotay by the window in the apartment's other room. As he handed her a phaser rifle, she stared with utter disbelief at the clouds of dark smoke pouring into the sky on the planet's horizon just north of the city. If she looked closely enough, she could also see the distant flicker of flames at the bottom of each of the explosive blasts.

"Okay," she said with a definite hint of curiosity. "I get how you tricked them into moving unstable substances inside their military compounds. But how did you know the cargo would pass through their security without them detecting a detonator inside?"

Chakotay simply grinned at her. "I have access to these wonderful things called Borg nanoprobes," he said confidently. "They're very useful actually. They sat inside all that cargo looking microscopically harmless until they received your subspace transmission. Then they simply combined together into a detonator device appropriate to the substance they were in and – _Whammo_!" His thoughts drifted warmly to a recent memory shared with his girlfriend Seven of Nine and he made a mental note to thank her for the design with a romantic dinner once he returned to Earth. "It's a lot easier to sabotage someone if you can trick them into confiscating your bombs and planting them for you," he said with a chuckle.

"It's brilliant is what it is," Ro commented. "They did all the leg work for us. We didn't have to risk penetrating their security, evading capture, or inadvertently tipping them off before everyone was set." She continued to watch the fires burning out of control on the horizon.

"I predict the Breen will choose to be stubborn," Chakotay decided, continuing to keep his phaser at the ready while he watched the street below carefully. "Right now, they've been taken by surprise, but they won't panic yet. They're going to try and take us hostage, and that's where this plan of ours gets extremely dangerous. I hope your civilian friends are ready."

"They are," Ro promised him. "Anyone who doesn't know how to fight is staying with someone who does. So let's get on with this already." She and Chakotay both raised their phaser rifles and quickly stunned the two nervous Breen guards patrolling the intersection on the street below. Immediately a couple of men emerged from a building across the street from them and disarmed the soldiers, dragging their unconscious bodies indoors and out of sight. Cautiously, Ro and Chakotay hastily descended to the first floor of the apartment building and moved out into the street toward the north end of town. In the distance they could hear the distinct sound of phaser fire as other Breen soldiers within the city limits were stunned and taken into custody.

* * *

_Stardate 55419: 0721 hours _Enterprise_ time… _

Thann Vladi briskly led a squadron of fifty armed soldiers south toward Ropal. Their primary military compound was currently burning in several key areas and he was angrier than he had ever been in his life. He had ordered his troops to set their weapons to kill and it was no longer his intention of taking _everyone_ alive. The Breen had already suffered casualties this day and he intended to make the colonists pay for their defiance.

The first thing he noticed as they approached the city limits was that none of his guards stationed inside the city were replying to his repeated attempts to contact them. The second thing he observed were the several dozen red hot phaser beams that burned the ground in front of him as they attempted to move closer to the city. Extremely irritated, he motioned with his right fist for his men to spread out and begin an assault. As his team began to follow orders, additional phaser beams flared out from the windows and doors of the nearest buildings and instantly vaporized half a dozen of his men. The rest of them froze in shock.

"_I thought these people are supposed to be unarmed_!" one of his men yelled irritably at him electronically, obviously caught off guard just as he was. "_Those sound like standard issue Federation phasers that they're shooting at us_."

Thann angrily motioned for silence. He scanned the city in front of them carefully with the electronically enhanced visor in his Breen helmet. The citizens had planned their assault well… unless his men began systematically reducing all of the buildings to rubble or he ordered an attack from orbit their new enemy was very well concealed. He knew immediately that the first option was out of the question simply because his troops were caught out in the open, unprepared. He was debating as to whether or not to order an orbital assault when someone with a bullhorn began shouting at him from the city.

"_My name is Chakotay_," the human yelled to them. "_Your dominance over us and your continued presence on these planets is over. This is not an isolated incident – it's happening all throughout the demilitarized zone on all of the colonies. You now have 18 minutes remaining to accept the situation and leave. Once Admiral Janeway's deadline passes, I guarantee you we're going to take back our cities the old fashioned way… and we're not going to be nearly this nice_."

Reports were pouring in on the secure military channel wired into Thann's helmet as quickly as he could listen to them. Unfortunately for him the transmissions confirmed that the human was telling the truth and that the civilians were indeed revolting simultaneously on all of the other colonies. He was also receiving reports indicating that a sizeable number of additional military facilities had also suffered from unexpected explosions that seemed to originate out of nowhere. Having seen quite enough, the Breen commander furiously tapped his helmet and prepared to order an orbital assault on Ropal City. Perhaps if his starships destroyed a colony or two the Federation would learn that his people weren't kidding and end this foolishness.

Before he could send his message Thann heard an angry roar from the south. Curious, he and his men listened as the uproar – faint at first – continued to build in crescendo. As it grew closer and steadily louder he was able to determine that it was the sound of a lot of men all screaming together in unison. As they watched in utter astonishment a mob of angry Klingons poured onto the main avenue slicing through the center of town. Waving bat'leths, hand phasers and rifles, the dozens of Klingon soldiers pounded their feet toward the stunned Breen shouting at the top of their lungs. Even well-trained troops had their breaking point and Thann discovered that his men had reached theirs. They weren't up against untrained civilians any longer, but were instead facing highly trained Klingon warriors out for blood.

Behind him, most of his soldiers were already retreating and he turned quickly to join them. Several more of his people disintegrated in glowing flashes of sickly green annihilation as Klingon phaser blasts flashed toward their vulnerable position and caught them falling back. Feeling fear crawl through his body for the first time since Janeway had issued her initial message, the Breen commander continued to shout orders through his helmet transceiver, all while running back toward the north as fast as his feet would carry him. More of his men disintegrated or fell wounded as they ran and his shouts for emergency transport were finally answered as the rest of them disappeared in a surge of emerald transporter energy…

…and reappeared on a large platform up in orbit. Disgusted, Thann threw his disruptor rifle to the floor and left the room immediately, heading furiously toward the ship's bridge. It took him several additional minutes to traverse the distance to the vessel's command center and when the lift doors finally opened in front of him he stormed out of it and into the cavernous chamber beyond in search of Donis Dyl. "_Target their cities and begin firing immediately_!" he shouted heatedly at the ship's Captain. "_Kill everyone on that planet whose life sign doesn't register as Breen_!" His anger continued to build as Donis simply looked back at him without saying a word, then pointed across the bridge at the viewscreen.

The colorful, round shape of the planet took up the entire lower left portion of the screen, but between its cities and their own ship were five decloaked Klingon birds of prey. "_The Klingons have obviously been down on the planet for several days now,_" the Captain told him. "_That is no doubt how the Federation and Cardassian governments managed to supply weapons to their civilians, and it also explains why there are suddenly Klingon troops in the colonies. They kept themselves cloaked the entire time and landed outside the cities just opposite our bases while our soldiers were kept busy confiscating cargo from the merchant vessels._"

"_Lock on to as many human life signs as you can and beam them aboard as hostages,_" Thann said commandingly. "_We've already got some of their people and we'll use them to negotiate our way out of this_."

"_ The transporters are busy recovering our own people_. _You might want to seriously consider surrendering to them on their terms,_" Donis Dyl said angrily to him. "_They're ready for anything we try to do and I've already lost a lot of my men today trying to follow your orders and resist them. I've been informed that the civilians are already holding some of our own troops prisoner._" He pointed at the viewscreen and touched a control pad on his right arm. The image switched instantly from that of the planet to a tactical sensor overlay of the demilitarized zone. On it they could plainly see Klingon ships protectively hovering above each of the planets, with the Federation and Cardassian fleets rapidly spreading out along both sides of the border. "_Admiral Janeway took advantage of our over-confidence,_" Donis told the Commander. "_They have us trapped helplessly between them with the Klingons protecting their civilians. Unless you want to die today, this is over_."

"_I _told_ those idiots in the Dark Nebula that we needed a tachyon detection grid here too_!" Thann growled with growing defeat, even though his disappointment was not evident in his electronically enhanced voice. "_But they insisted they needed the extra ships there to protect the project and conceal our alliance with the reptilian-Xindi. Now that decision has cost us our supply line._" He stared helplessly at the screen, watching the enemy ships slowly but surely tightening their web around him. There were at least seventy enemy ships out there, and they had his eighteen starships neatly caught between them. "_Can we at least warn Malib and Bemuu in the Nebula?_" he asked warily, watching Donis shake his head in response.

"_They established a jamming network the instant the first bombs began to explode on the surface. With respect, I think it's time to do exactly as we're told, Commander._"

* * *

_Stardate 55419: 0730 hours _Enterprise_ time… _

Picard and Janeway stood side by side on the bridge of the _Enterprise_, carefully watching the tactical sensor display on the bridge's forward viewscreen. "Deanna, please give us a status report," the Captain requested, his gaze shifting toward her.

"All coalition ships are reporting condition green," the dark-haired counselor reported briskly. "And we're receiving a hail from one of the Breen starships. They're asking for terms."

"Connect me to them," Janeway ordered, waiting for her to comply. Returning Picard's glance with assurance, Troi followed the order and nodded at them.

"Ready Admiral."

"This is Admiral Janeway," she said, feeling a surge of relief at the good news so far. "The Breen surrender will be unconditional. All ships are ordered to immediately lower shields and eject both primary and secondary weapons coils. You are also instructed to jettison all torpedoes and other explosive devices, making certain you leave them in an unarmed status. The starship _Atlantis_ will move alongside the two ships that we scanned with colony prisoners aboard. You will allow us to beam our people aboard the _Atlantis_, at which time you will proceed directly to the Cardassian side of the demilitarized zone where you will be detained indefinitely."

Counselor Troi winced as a loud electronic protest sounded from the communications console. She glanced at the text translation in front of her and shook her head. "They don't like your terms Admiral," she said, not exactly telling Janeway anything she didn't already know.

"This is your last chance," Picard spoke up. "We have been patient and given you every opportunity to comply with our original message. Since you chose to try and take hostages those conditions have now been modified. Failure to comply with any of Admiral Janeway's orders will leave us no choice but to begin disabling the warp engines on each of your ships. I'm certain you will agree that this will cause you even more of a… delay."

Deanna watched her tactical console carefully for the next few minutes and finally smiled with approval. "The Breen ships are complying with your instructions Admiral," she reported with a sigh. "All of them."

"I wonder how many people we lost during all this nonsense," Janeway said with a bit of regret in her tone. "Considering the murderous disregard the Breen have shown for the terms they agreed to after the Dominion war, I firmly believe we had no choice but to send them the proper message today. They got bit by the dogs of war and it will make them think twice before trying their underhanded tactics in a war-torn region again."

"Counselor, may we have an update please?" Picard asked.

"All ships and colonies have reported in as ordered Captain," he said. "A few of the colonies do have some civilian injuries since the Breen shot down some of their buildings, but overall the surprise approach was a big success. The Klingons were late arriving at three of the cities due to the position of the Breen military compounds there. They took some casualties but are reporting that the enemy didn't stick around long enough to put up much of a fight. There are _no_ casualties reported amongst the civilians and the Breen have all returned to their ships. As we speak, their vessels are slowly being squeezed between the Klingon and Cardassian fleets."

"Then it's a waiting game for now," Janeway commented. "We'll stay until we're certain that the Breen have complied with our order to disarm and can guarantee that the Cardassian fleet has them safely contained."

"Deanna, please contact the Xindi fleet and give them our rendezvous coordinates," the Captain ordered. "Ask them to wait for us as planned next to the McAllister nebula." He watched her nod as she began relaying the message.

"It remains to be seen whether the Klingons and Cardassians can be trusted to work together so soon after their past conflicts," Janeway commented. "That's why I think your suggestion to arm the colonists was a good one… they're not helpless bystanders any longer and will have a say in the matter this time."

"The idea actually occurred to me after reviewing the historical information on Data's mission to Stadia," replied Picard. "Captain Kirk's original intention there, once it became obvious that the Prime Directive had been violated, was to make sure that both sides were armed _equally_. He didn't want to simply fly off and leave a bully in charge of that planet."

"Once the Breen are allowed to return home, the Klingons won't need to stay either," Counselor Troi pointed out. "I think the long-term test for this region will be whether the Cardassians and humans can get along this time."

"Touché Counselor," decided Picard.

* * *

_Stardate 55419: 0745 hours _Enterprise_ time… _

Chakotay lowered his electronic bullhorn and walked out to the center of the street where a group of colonists were already cheering and shouting over their obvious triumphant victory in the Volan Colonies. The only Breen left on the planet were prisoners being held in some of the city buildings, and their superiors hadn't dared try to beam them up while the enemy starship fleets had them surrounded. He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the citizens celebrate and waited patiently for Ro Laren to return from her apartment.

When she finally did come back out onto the street she nodded and flashed him a grateful smile. "We did it," she told him with excitement. "I've been monitoring subspace for the past ten minutes and the _Enterprise_ has signaled that everyone reported in as green… the Breen starships have all been captured and disarmed."

As she spoke a pair of Cardassians emerged from one of the buildings behind them. They were Darot and Meros, representatives from the city closest to Ropal. Both of them had worked closely with the Ro and Chakotay for the past several days, helping them pass along details of their plan to contacts on the other colonies. The citizens of Ropal had also appointed several humans to represent them in the neighboring city and assist with the overall plan for today's scheduled uprising. The exchanges had been kept small in order to avoid arousing suspicion with the Breen, gradually increasing until everyone received the supplies and information that they needed to defend themselves.

"I think we should organize several groups of people to visit the Breen military facilities and begin reviewing their computer files," Chakotay suggested. "Admiral Janeway and Captain Picard will need to know if there is any critical data stored there that can be used as proof of the criminal events that took place here."

"We also might be able to supply them with valuable intelligence," Darot noted. Both of the Cardassians were male and obviously handling the planet's late afternoon heat much better than Ro and Chakotay were. "The Breen do not do anything without a specific objective in mind… the people in our city have been trying to discover what that is for months now."

"First and foremost they wanted our resources," said Ro. She looked at the two of them and handed Chakotay her phaser rifle. "I sincerely hope that we can continue to work together. I think we've all learned the past few days that we have more in common out here on the edge of our respective governments' influence than we thought we did. We all have weapons again, along with the same choice that we did the last time – continue to build on the trust that we've established today or go back to killing each other."

"Some day I will play for you the message my father sent to me from my home world," Meros told her. "The damage that the Dominion did to the Cardassian people and our cities left us devastated. I think you will find that most of us – like you – are tired of all the killing that has gone on and will work with you."

"Some will never be comfortable with the spirit of cooperation," Chakotay observed. "That's why both sides need to work together and form our own governing body. We have the weapons we need, so once we establish rule of law in these territories those who break it can be tried, convicted and locked away."

"We already have prisoners to lock up," one of the humans behind him decided enthusiastically. "At least until Starfleet lets us know what is to be done with them."

"Indeed," Chakotay grinned. "I say we visit that Breen compound, release our people there, and confine the Breen soldiers in those same cells." He shook his head in disgust. "They treated everyone on these planets with such total contempt that we never even had to worry seriously about spies in our midst. Who could ever have trusted them?"

"It's nice to know you weren't kidding me Chakotay," Ro commented, slapping him affectionately on the back. "Admiral Janeway delivered when we needed help the most. We owe Starfleet an awful lot… so let me be the first to say thank you for all your effort here."

"You're welcome," he said with a hearty chuckle while keeping his eye on a rowdy group of Klingons who were busy shouting at each other near the far end of the street. "But I think we'd better go help my friend Tuvok… he appears to be having a tough time convincing the Klingons that the fighting here is finished already."


	14. Fox Hunt

_Are you wearing socks? If not you better put on a pair because I'm planning to blow at least one of them off of you...!_

_1. What's this all been leading up to?_

_2. What the devil is going on in the Dark Nebula?_

_3. Will Riker's team survive?_

_Heh heh heh, all three questions get answered right now!_

**As a good friend of mine is so fond of saying... "On with the show!"****

* * *

**

**Star Trek: Absolution**

_I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres._

**Chapter XIV: Fox Hunt**

The _Daq_ passed cleanly between the two pursuing ships as Riker dropped out of warp, reversed course and rocketed back toward the perimeter of the Dark Nebula at a resumed pace of warp five. Their fully-powered shields took several disruptor hits from the Breen starship as they did so, while Geordi calmly ignored the larger ship and targeted their own phasers at the smaller reptilian-Xindi vessel. The Klingon shuttle shuddered several times as its shields cleanly absorbed the impact energy, and Laforge noted with extreme dissatisfaction that his own shots failed to significantly affect the Xindi's shields.

"Strap yourselves in, grab onto something _and hold on tight_!" Riker yelled, doing his best to be heard above the whining protest of the ship's over-taxed engines. "I'm going to try every trick I know and keep us alive as long as possible."

"I hate to say it Worf, but this ship isn't big enough for serious combat…"

"Then _don't_ say it," said the Klingon fiercely to the engineer in front of him. He finished strapping their semi-conscious prisoner into one of the seats in the rear cabin, then sat down in an empty chair himself. Feeling angry and helpless, Worf began cussing loudly in Klingon as he buckled his own safety straps tightly around him. Dr. Crusher settled into a seat across from him and also made sure that her restraints were tightly secured around her.

"You've got the time you need," Riker pointed out to Geordi. "I suggest you make use of it before they try and cut us off again."

Focusing carefully, Geordi finished downloading their sensor scans of the DNX-920 system into three warp-capable probes attached to the underside of the _Daq_. He quickly activated their preset homing systems and launched all three simultaneously, but in different directions. As each probe's guidance system took over, they instantly jumped into warp and steered deeper into Federation space. "Now they've got four targets to choose from," LaForge decided with satisfaction. "They can chase those things for a while or continue to try and kill us."

As he spoke, the Xindi ship leaped into warp in the direction of one of the probes. The Breen starship remained behind and continued to fire its disruptors wildly. It attempted to close the distance between them so that it could launch torpedoes as well. Their small ship shuddered again from the latest near miss and the hull continued to rumble ominously as they plowed directly into a wave of pulsing scarlet radiation emerging from the edge of the nebula.

"We may be small but we've got our own warp core," Riker shouted, "…along with a much smaller shield grid to maintain. Our deflectors are still at eighty-one percent – let's see how well the Breen's defenses handle all of this hard radiation at extreme speed." As he spoke Geordi centered the shuttle's targeting crosshairs on the enemy starship and fired several of the shuttle's micro-torpedoes at it. Both of them impacted against its shielding with a crackle of emerald energy, which the Breen ship promptly shrugged aside as it continued closing on them. It fired several of its own torpedoes and the near-miss detonations caused several engineering status consoles on the wall beside Crusher to begin sparking and smoking.

"I think we should head away from the nebula," Geordi suggested, coughing as the shuttle's life support systems struggled to keep up with the gray smoke pouring out of their damaged electrical systems. "Right now they're jamming subspace, but at least one of the probes I launched is certain to get beyond it. I also managed to send one really _loud_ subspace shout of our own before they caught us. The deeper we move into Federation space, the better it is for us and the worse for them… especially when they want to keep as many resources here as possible to protect their big secret in there." He coughed again and shook his head to clear it, then watched the hairs on his arms rise as a dangerous electrical surge began to build on the console in front of him. Tentatively, he touched the controls carefully and continued scanning.

"Agreed," Riker replied as the windows in front of them flashed bright green from another near miss. One of the disruptor beams skated across the edge of their shields and sent them tumbling end over end. The Commander quickly fired the maneuvering thrusters and steadied them, right before he pointed the _Daq_ directly toward Federation space and threw them back into a warp six plunge. Banking sharply to one side, the Breen starship promptly followed.

Behind them Worf struggled to remain calm and began to growl in anger. He was making certain that their prisoner – now conscious – remained right where he was while Beverly carefully reached out and scanned him with her medical tricorder. The man was wearing simple civilian clothing and at first refused to say anything, but the furious glare he gave the Doctor left no doubt in her mind as to his feelings about the situation.

"I hope they kill you _all_," he said finally, practically spitting the words across the short distance that separated him from Crusher. Worf's snarl deepened and the Doctor jumped in surprise as he suddenly smashed the man in the face with the back of his right hand. Without another word the prisoner fell awkwardly back into his seat and his head flopped limply to the right, his body held semi-upright and unconscious in the tight grip of the seat's safety straps.

"Unbelievable," Dr. Crusher said with astonishment.

"Believe me Doctor, his nose _will_ heel," Worf insisted, sounding a bit defensive.

"No, it's not that," she reassured him. "I'm wondering just what the hell has been going on down on that planet. This man's life signs don't even register as a human being any more. I'm really glad you decided to take him prisoner… we've got to get him back to a Sickbay where I can make a more thorough examination."

The shuttle continued to hop through an expertly planned series of warp speed evasive maneuvers and all four Starfleet officers on board somehow managed to avoid bouncing off of anything sharp or hard. For the most part Geordi was impressed… the inertial dampeners and shields on the _Daq_ were almost as good as their Federation counterparts. They were holding up quite well considering the ship was not designed to move into and out of warp so quickly.

"If he's not human any longer, then what is he?" Riker asked, shouting over his shoulder from the cockpit. The howl of the engines at full output almost drowned out his voice but he could see Crusher continuing to study the man.

"I have no idea," she yelled back at him, shrugging her shoulders in dismay. "That's what I need a Starfleet computer and laboratory to determine."

"Commander, the Breen are closing on us from port. They're faster than us and they know it," Geordi warned him. Almost as soon as he said the words Riker killed the warp drive and they flashed back into normal space. "Okay, so now they're really faster," he grinned, watching the Breen ship also decelerate and circle around on an interception course.

It was suddenly quiet in the cockpit as the _Daq_ sat virtually motionless in space while the enemy starship quickly closed the distance. The instant its disruptors began firing Riker reactivated the warp engines, sending them rocketing through the biggest hole he could find in the barrage. Their deflectors were seared thoroughly but held firm as the shuttle temporarily left their pursuer behind yet again.

"We can only play this game for so long before our shields give out," protested Worf. "Eventually they _will_ fail and then the Breen will have us."

"I'm open to suggestions," the Commander said irritably from his seat at the helm.

"Ram them at warp speed," Worf said with a scowl. "At least one of the probes Geordi launched will get through. I say take as many of them with us as we can."

"That's not very long-term thinking for a Lieutenant-Commander," Riker countered.

"It's not very long-term thinking for a Klingon Ambassador either," added Crusher.

"Those subspace signals travel pretty fast," LaForge pointed out. "Somebody has heard our distress call by now. Help is on the way, I'm certain of it."

"Now _that's_ long-term thinking," Riker grinned, dropping the ship out of warp again.

The Breen starship was quicker this time and also slowed at virtually the same instant. As it did so Geordi fired the last pair of micro-torpedoes into its shields and watched them sizzle violently as the energy was instantly absorbed and dissipated.

The aft disruptors on the enemy ship fired wildly and several of the shots slammed into their shields, followed immediately by a return burst of phaser fire from the _Daq_. Toe to toe, the two ships continued to slug it out while Riker mentally counted off the seconds he figured it would take the enemy to target and lock torpedoes onto the much smaller target offered by their shuttle. The smaller Klingon ship finally had no choice but to give in and veer away, with one of its nacelles leaving behind a trail of glowing golden particles as it did so. The helm and navigation consoles flickered for an instant but regained power and stayed lit. Both the Commander and Geordi breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Our shields are now at fifty-nine percent," LaForge warned him. "We've taken enough damage that we're extremely vulnerable. If their disruptors pierce the hull or they get in even one solid hit with a torpedo it will almost certainly finish us."

"If we lose warp drive we won't be sitting too pretty either," scowled Riker as he accelerated back into hyperspace. He dipped and turned and veered the _Daq_ sharply one way and then another – continuing his efforts to keep the helmsman of the enemy ship off-balance and guessing. "I was counting on both of them going after those probes. Either that or hoping that we could somehow manage to disable _their_ warp drive." He glanced hopefully at the engineer sitting next to him. "Are we still covered in tachyons or can I cloak us?"

"By the time we shed enough of them to hide from their sensors it will be too late," replied a disappointed Geordi. "We flew right through a huge pocket of them."

"Can you detect the Xindi ship or tell if they've caught up with our probes?"

"Negative," was his almost instantaneous answer. "We're clear of the radiation on the nebula's perimeter, but the Breen are still doing their best to jam us. I'm not reading any telemetry at all, just sensor static and…" LaForge trailed off suddenly with a confused expression on his face. "Wait a minute," he said to himself. "What the hell is that?"

The howling warp engines went silent again as Riker plunged the ship back to sublight velocity. He cast a wary glance at Geordi, watching him continue to study the sensors. "What?" the Commander said, prompting him cautiously. "What is it?"

"I don't know," LaForge said, sounding completely mystified. "I'm detecting a new, unknown contact bearing 223 mark 97. It's barely readable and I have no idea _what_ it is… maybe a small asteroid or a debris field?"

"Is it the reptilians?"

"The contact is too small..."  
"How close is it?" Riker asked, watching his friend concentrate.

"Close enough… it's ninety seconds away at warp six."

"That's good enough for me," the Commander decided, adjusting the shuttle's course to intercept the unidentified anomaly. He tapped the console in front of him and they immediately surged back into high warp.

Behind them, the Breen starship also mirrored their jumps into and out of warp, continuing its relentless pursuit. Its crew maintained a constant barrage of random disruptor fire in an attempt to keep as much pressure as possible on the _Daq_'s rapidly dwindling shield energy. The seconds ticked by as the enemy repeatedly fired at them, and a sudden explosive burst from the helm caused Riker and Geordi to flinch and lean back in their seats as their shields fluctuated and then failed. Additional smoke began pouring out of the seams lining edges of the Commander's helm station and he realized with frustration that their warp engines were gone.

"We're on impulse from here," Riker noted hotly as they flew forward at half light speed.

"There, that's our unknown bogey…" Geordi said, adjusting the viewscreen to short range scan. He pointed toward a glowing dot in the center of the screen and Riker spiraled their shuttle through a series of high impulse evasive maneuvers directly toward it. He rapidly closed the distance and slowed their shuttle as they moved to within ten thousand kilometers of the mysterious contact. As they grew nearer, Geordi enhanced the magnification so they could get a better look at the new object.

"It looks like a big dragon," Riker said with interest as he curiously watched the large horned beast with its flapping wings and lengthy tail completely dominate the enlarged visual image. "Whatever it is, it's definitely _not_ our reptilian friends, and that can only be good for us given our current situation."

As he spoke orange phaser beams flared from the crimson eyes of the dragon and slammed into the pursuing Breen vessel. Additional micro-torpedoes flashed into view from between the lengthy horns on the beast's head and they exploded violently against the enemy vessel's shields. For the first time since the fight began, Riker and Geordi both noticed the Breen starship fluctuate unsteadily before its helmsman managed to stabilize its course. With a confused crew on board, the starship hovered in space between the _Daq_ and the new contact as the Breen struggled to assess the sudden change of events and come up with a new battle plan.

"That has to be a holographic projection of some kind, probably from a cloaking device," LaForge observed carefully. "And I doubt we have any Romulan friends in this area…"

"It's Data!" Riker said firmly with a grin. "It has to be him! His mission was to find and recover a Romulan scout ship that crossed from the Neutral Zone into Federation space. I've got a hunch that his journey was a successful one."

"Their ability to jam us has been damaged," reported LaForge. "I'm picking up telemetry from two of the probes. The third one has no doubt been destroyed." He glanced up toward the shuttle's windows as a large ship dropped out of warp directly in front of them. "As if things weren't interesting enough already, our reptilian friends have returned."

For a few brief seconds longer they had a good old-fashioned stand-off underway. The _Daq_ and the floating space dragon had the Breen starship 'trapped' between them. Worf's shuttle had turned away from the other two ships and was moving as quickly as possible out of enemy weapons range. Now that the reptilian-Xindi ship had also cut them off, Riker slowed their forward momentum and began cautiously backing away from it. As with the Breen ship, Geordi could detect a lot of sensor activity emanating from the reptilians as they too began scanning the curious new contact.

Taking full advantage of the indecision, the dragon fired twin phaser beams from its eyes and once again the Breen starship shuddered from the unexpected attack. Another series of micro-torpedoes flashed from between its horns and just as suddenly as it had appeared the image of the magnificent beast faded from view and was gone. Too late the Breen crew decided to return fire – their torpedoes and disruptor blasts flashed cleanly through empty space.

"Now that's just odd to watch," noted Riker with a shake of his head. "I like this idea… it's very creative and has them totally mystified." He continued backing the _Daq_ away from the reptilian ship but its crew had noticed his departure and had accelerated to follow them.

"The reptilians are charging weapons," LaForge warned. As he spoke a very familiar looking dragon with large wings and a tail flopping back and forth appeared directly aft of the reptilian ship. "Here there be dragons Commander," he said with a cheerful grin.

Having witnessed the Breen taking heavy damage, the reptilian ship immediately spun around 180 degrees on an imaginary axis and began firing its own energy weapons at the dragon's image now in front of them. The large beast simply sat quietly in space, absorbing the impact of the directed energy discharges without appearing to take any damage at all.

"Now I'd seriously like to know how our good friend Data is managing _that_," decided Riker wryly as he watched the reptilian vessel continue to rapidly fire at the dragon's image. "If that is a holographic projection then it means he's using most of the output from his warp drive to cloak the runabout. So how can the _Yellowjacket_ endure that kind of attack with little or no shielding in place?"

His question went unanswered momentarily as the wounded Breen vessel steadied its course and moved to join the reptilians in a fresh attack run on the dangerous dragon beast. As its impulse engines pushed it back into optimum weapons range the crew angrily targeted the image that the reptilians continued to shoot at.

As a result, they didn't see the _second_ dragon materialize behind them and suddenly begin throwing additional micro-torpedoes into their aft deflectors. At the same time, the new dragon also fired its familiar but dangerous eye phasers through the hole in the deflectors opened by the unexpected torpedo explosions. The Breen ship spun awkwardly to port with smoking hot scorch marks on the surface of its engineering hull where the energy had impacted. Astonished, the crew of the reptilian vessel immediately ceased firing on the first dragon and turned to assist their injured allies with the other beast.

"This is unbelievable," said Geordi with a great deal of dismay.

"What?" Worf demanded from the rear of the ship. "What is happening up there?"

"It's the greatest chess match I've ever seen," Riker chuckled. "And so far, our side keeps adding new pieces to the board."

As the reptilians moved away from the first dragon, it decloaked completely to reveal the sleek outline of the starship _Defiant_. Glowing bits of smoldering debris still clung to its ablative armor from the sustained attack it had endured, and the commander of the ship wasted no time in launching an all-out barrage from its Type-U phaser cannons. The powerful, pulsing phaser bursts caught the reptilian ship from behind and ripped it cleanly in half. The resulting matter-antimatter explosion from the destroyed ship rocked the _Daq_ and – wincing from the ferocity of the blast – Riker continued to back their shuttle as quickly as possible away from the chaos.

"_Commander Riker_ _this is General Kira on board the _Defiant," her voice crackled loudly from the Comm-badge on his chest. "_Our sensors show you have no shields… please have your team standing by and ready to transport aboard_."

The instant he heard Kira's voice, Worf unbuckled himself from his seat and tried to climb into the cockpit. Riker shook his head at the Klingon and grunted with effort as he physically shoved him out of the way so he and Geordi could move back into the _Daq_'s central cabin. Doctor Crusher had also released herself from the safety restraints and was working quickly to unhook their prisoner as well. The four Starfleet officers were all jubilant, since it didn't take a tactical genius to figure out that their enemy had just been seriously out-maneuvered in this battle to the death.

In front of them, the _Defiant_ accelerated past their view through the forward windows and fired a trio of quantum torpedoes directly into the center of the wounded Breen starship. The Federation vessel followed up the torpedo attack with a fresh barrage from its pulse phasers and the enemy ship's engines instantly overloaded and exploded in a massive cloud of expanding, radiant debris. Once again the outer edge of a shock wave from a second gigantic warp core explosion rocked their small shuttle back and forth while everyone aboard held on for dear life. Seconds later they felt the familiar glow of the _Defiant_'s blue transporter energy engulf the five of them and beam them away to safety.

"Now _that's_ what I call a rescue," Geordi said with a smile as they disappeared.

* * *

The _Defiant_ paused just long enough to allow the _Yellowjacket_ to land in its shuttle bay. General Kira had the transporter officer simply beam the still-smoldering _Daq_ aboard. Once both support ships were recovered they wasted no time and the starship rocketed back into warp speed on a course to rendezvous with Picard's fleet. No one was more astonished than Riker and his team as they met up with and saw for the first time the aged but familiar face of their old friend Tasha Yar standing next to Commander Data. It was a very enthusiastic reunion for the bridge crew of the _Enterprise_ – all except for Worf, who was noticeably rattled by the presence of his supposedly long dead friend. 

An hour later found them all in the _Defiant_'s small Sickbay. Both Crusher and Bashir gave everyone except for Data a quick examination to check for radiation poisoning and other injuries before turning their curious attention toward their captured prisoner.

"I don't know you," Tasha told Worf, unsure of what else to say to him. "Things were very different in the timeline that I came from, not the least of which was an all-out conflict between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire. "I left because the Federation was losing that war, and all indications were that my timeline was an incorrect one."

"Here in this timeline you were my mentor," the burly Klingon said, a tinge of emotion evident in his normally serious tone. "Much of my training at the tactical station and in Starfleet security was guided by your hand. Your death was indeed a tragic loss for everyone aboard the _Enterprise_, but most especially for me."

"Then I hope that my return eases some of your pain Worf," Tasha said, stepping forward and giving the large Klingon a warm hug. "I'm a little older, but still well-versed in tactical strategy." She smiled as he threw back his head with its lengthy pony tail and laughed heartily.

"That holographic dragon was the work of a tactical genius," Geordi pointed out, smiling at his still human-looking android friend. "Data that was absolutely _brilliant_!"

"You will like it even more when you read my report on the Stadian incident," Data decided with a small smirk. "The dragon image was most useful to me on the planet also."

"In this era of space battles where virtually every maneuver and trick in the book has been tried, you still managed to come up with something totally unexpected," Riker chuckled, also complimenting the _Enterprise_ second officer. "I've never seen experienced soldiers like the Breen hesitate so much. They had absolutely no clue what was going on!"

"I suggested the tactic to General Kira after rendezvousing with the _Defiant_ en route to rescue you," Data informed them. "Since this starship also has a cloaking device, she downloaded a copy of the image, and then we used my weapons to mislead the enemy into thinking they were simply dealing with another shuttle."

Geordi looked thoughtfully at Data as the door behind him slid open. "I thought that Starfleet was conditionally prohibited by the Romulans from using the _Defiant_'s cloaking device while in the alpha quadrant," he commented. "Wasn't it specifically given to you so that you could conduct covert surveys of the gamma quadrant prior to the Dominion war?"

"Then I guess it's a good thing this ship is temporarily being commanded by the Bajoran military," General Kira said as she entered the small infirmary flanked by two security guards. "We made no such agreement with the Romulans, and – unfortunately – still are not an official member of the Federation."

"That works for you, but it still doesn't let Data off the hook," Tasha pointed out.

"They are welcome to come and try to arrest me," Data said, using his best poker face.

Kira introduced the human and arboreal Xindi representatives, Jommyn and Pykiim, who had also accompanied her on the rescue mission. They immediately crossed the small room and surveyed the unconscious human male suspiciously.

"It would help matters if you all gave us room to work in here," Dr. Bashir suggested to them. "It may take us some time to determine just what specifically has been done to him."

Jommyn laughed politely. "Perhaps I can help Doctor," he offered. "Search through your computer records for data regarding the original Delphic Expanse before it was dismantled two hundred years ago. I think you will find that this man's life signs are an exact match with those of the trans-dimensional aliens – or Guardians as we used to call them – who once tried to terra form your space and conquer it."

There was a brief pause as Julian accessed the necessary computer information and ran a quick comparison. As his medical tricorder interfaced with the _Defiant_'s computer it chattered electronically for a moment before beeping loudly for attention. Glancing up he looked at the Xindi representative with complete astonishment. "You're right," he said. "But how can that be?"

"We have suspected that the reptilians might attempt something like this for many years," commented Pykiim. "Their military leadership never forgot about the Guardians and has always considered them to be our gods. Thus it made sense to us that they would someday try to contact them again… and now, sadly, the Breen have obviously assisted them in doing just that."

"But this is one of the colonists from the demilitarized zone," Dr. Crusher pointed out to him. "The computer has identified his DNA as a man named Harold Sailes. He used to live with his wife and child on one of the Volan colonies."

"I'm afraid he's quite probably not a human being any more," Jommyn said with sympathy. "I am only speculating and you may yet prove me wrong on this matter, but I firmly believe they have turned him into a Guardian."

"What?" Riker said with surprise. "Are you saying that he's one of those trans-dimensional aliens? Did he somehow copy Mr. Sailes and assume a humanoid form?"

"I'm saying that he used to _be_ human until one of the Guardians stole his body," corrected Jommyn. "One of those trans-dimensional beings has transferred his or her personality into this human and now completely controls his actions. Whatever personality existed before will almost certainly have been tragically lost during the procedure."

Dr. Crusher scanned the body again with her medical tricorder and shrugged her shoulders. "What he says makes sense," she confirmed. "His brain patterns are completely different than our records show, and his life signs definitely do not register as even remotely human any longer. Add to that his reaction to us when he woke up on the shuttle..."

"I find this an intriguing _second_ attempt by the Guardians to conquer larger portions of our galaxy," Data decided, watching the unconscious human with interest. "Their previous effort to terra form the alpha quadrant occurred prior to the formation of the Federation and, despite the low number of space faring cultures in the region, still managed to attract far more attention than they expected due to the chaotic effects of manipulating our environment to simulate theirs."

"So converting thousands of light years of space to match their home is no longer even an option to them given the current size and strength of the various warp-capable governments here," Geordi guessed. "They're trying this instead of committing all that time and effort into trying to rebuild the failed experiment halted by Captain Archer and his crew over two hundred years ago, when warp travel was still around but far less frequent."

"This is by far a much more well thought out and simpler process," Data observed. "Our universe is already well suited for the beings that live here. I would imagine that they are finding it significantly easier to transfer the consciousness from each of their people into a compatible body on this end of their trans-dimensional realm. Since the humanoid bodies are already able to survive in this environment, no terra forming of the surrounding space is required."

"So that's why they started abducting the colonists, and it also explains why some of the humans in the DNX-920 system are '_helping_' them," Riker said, shaking his head. "They need as many bodies as possible so that they can bring an army over here." He glanced across the room to General Kira. "We have sensor telemetry aboard Worf's shuttle from our scans of their base camp inside the Dark Nebula," he said with some anxiety. "I need to transmit that information to Starfleet as soon as possible General."

"The _Defiant_'s crew is already taking care of that Commander, so relax," Kira suggested. "Two of your probes pierced their jamming network… that's how we found you so quickly." She gestured toward the door. "I would suggest you all get some rest – you're going to need it once we return to the fleet. Captain Picard and Admiral Janeway have a plan in place to assault the Dark Nebula project even as we speak."

"I'd really feel more comfortable going to your hangar bay and taking a closer look at the data from the shuttle's computers," Geordi insisted. "The historical information I've read on these trans-dimensional aliens states that when they appeared in the most severely disrupted areas of the Delphic Expanse they had the ability to phase their bodies long enough to pass through solid objects like walls and equipment. I'd like to begin taking a look as to whether those types of capabilities can transfer to a human body along with their consciousness."

"Until you can confirm that the security guards stay here," Kira decided, nodding to them.

"I will go with you Geordi," said Data. "I enjoy sleeping, but do not require it."

"You're both welcome to go down and assist the Starfleet personnel in the hangar bay," decided Kira. "But when you see the outer hull of your shuttle Commander LaForge, be prepared to realize just how close they came to killing you. That's why we didn't try to warn off or disable the ships pursuing you, because the commanders of those two ships had made up their minds to kill you without mercy even after it was obvious that two of your probes had escaped."

"Believe me General," LaForge said in all seriousness. "We had a pretty good idea of just how close they came to killing us from our positions _inside_ the shuttle!"

"The reptilians still believe the Guardians are their gods," stated Jommyn. "They have been trying to re-establish contact with them for centuries. We've known about it but were not concerned because they have never had the resources or technology to threaten this region again. But I think we have seen plenty of evidence today that the Breen have helped them find a way to bring an army of Guardians back, and that will almost certainly lead to decades of additional violence and bloodshed on this side of the galaxy."

"During our mission, my team was warned by a man from the future that such a new war will last for centuries," said Riker grimly. "It will all be in my report, but I hope everyone understands that we've got to stop that project _now_ – before it expands beyond that nebula."

* * *

Picard had finally taken a couple of hours for himself and decided to use them resting in his quarters. His uniform was neatly folded across a chair next to his nightstand and he was sound asleep in bed when the Comm-badge on his tunic first beeped for attention. 

"_Captain, this is Deanna from the bridge night watch… I'm sorry to have to wake you during your private time_."

"That's perfectly all right Counselor," he said as he hurriedly wiped sleep from his eyes. "Has there been any news?"

"_Affirmative_," she replied. "_We've just beamed aboard a probe launched by Riker's team and our communications specialists are downloading its telemetry now. The tactical officer has also received a short range communiqué from the _Defiant_. General Kira was able to retrieve both the_ Yellowjacket _and the Klingon shuttle led by Commander Riker's team. According to the message, we didn't lose anyone_."

"Thank goodness for that," Picard said, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

No matter how many times he ordered his people into the line of fire it never got any easier for him. A part of the Captain was constantly on edge deep down inside as long as his people were in danger, and that feeling never seemed to go away until he knew for certain that they were safe again. He digested the good news for a few seconds longer while walking into the main room of his quarters and ordering a cup of hot Earl Grey tea from his replicator.

She had been by his side so long that Troi could sense his mood all the way from the bridge. "_We will rendezvous with the_ Defiant _in three hours sir_," she said comfortingly.

"Deanna, please send a response to General Kira expressing my sincere gratitude for assisting us on this matter. Have you notified the Admiral yet?"

"_Admiral Janeway is already here on the bridge with me Captain. She's assisting our officers in analyzing the sensor data_."

"Of course she is," Picard mused wryly, glancing at the steaming cup of tea in his hand. "She drinks coffee… I would imagine the woman doesn't even _need_ sleep." He took a sip of tea with a thoughtful look on his face. "Is the news good or bad?"

"_A little of both_," Troi told him. "_The Breen situation is still confined within the Dark Nebula… for now. But the two Xindi representatives on board the_ Defiant _believe that the reptilians have teamed up with them in order to reestablish contact with the Guardians in their trans-dimensional realm and begin bringing them over here_."

"If I remember correctly, our galaxy is poisonous to those aliens, is it not?" He took a sip of the tea and placed the cup back onto its saucer with the soft clink of china on china.

"_They've discovered that this is the reason why the Breen began abducting our colonists in the demilitarized zone, Captain. Apparently our enemies have found a way to transfer the entire consciousness of each Guardian into a suitable host body on our side of the realm… this despite the fact that it permanently destroys the existing personality of anyone subjected to the procedure_. _Doctors Crusher and Bashir have both verified this information as accurate by analyzing a prisoner captured by Riker's team_."

"Good grief," Picard said as he set the cup of tea and its saucer on the night stand and began changing into his uniform. "Kidnapping and experimenting on people violates at least a few of the cease-fire agreements supposedly signed in good faith by the Breen, does it not?"

"_So far we've found six clear infractions in regards to the official charter we signed with their government after the Dominion war," _the Counselor said informatively._ "And that's just what we've learned about the Dark Nebula project… it doesn't take into account the other hardships the Breen have forced on the colonists in the demilitarized zone_."

"Let's not forget the moral implications of the matter," Picard decided. "Although I seriously doubt that the Breen hesitated even one little bit over any of those. Deanna, please put the _Enterprise_ on yellow alert," he ordered as he continued dressing. "I've had my catnap for the evening so I'm on my way to the bridge."

"_I also thought you should know that_ _General Kira has offered to place the _Defiant _under your command and assist us further in this matter_."

"As long as they'll be transferring our officers back to us anyway, please officially request that she join our task force," instructed Picard. "The more firepower we have when we enter the Nebula, the better. This has got to _stop_ right here and now."

"_Since we have obtained clear evidence of the Breen's non-compliance with treaty you have every right to act in defense of the Federation_," the Counselor pointed out to him.

"Not to mention the people who may still be prisoners there," Picard decided as he finished dressing and headed out into the corridor. "I'll see you in a few minutes Counselor… Picard out."


	15. Checks And Balances

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter XV: Checks And Balances**

Dr. Julian Bashir hastily completed the latest round of tests on their prisoner, who was currently lying sedated on one of the Sickbay beds. Several hours ago the _Defiant_ had officially rendezvoused with the growing coalition fleet of ships, allowing Riker and his _Enterprise_ crew mates to beam home for a well earned rest. As a professional courtesy to Dr. Crusher, Bashir had promised to finish the latest series of brain tissue scans without her and then transfer a copy of all of the information to her home starship. It hadn't taken more than a quick glance at the expression on her face to determine she had just been through an awful lot.

Only Commander Data seemed to shrug everything off with minimal impact on his positronic personality, and interacting with the android had always intrigued Bashir. He had met Data on several occasions, usually at official functions, and the miraculous accomplishment the sentient android's mere existence presented was irresistible to him from both a biological and scientific standpoint. It was always an honor to observe the Lieutenant-Commander and get a truly close up view of a very unique and new life form.

Both of the security guards assigned by Kira were standing guard outside of the room's only exit. Harold Sailes had been given a very heavy sedative but Bashir still considered himself on guard after hearing LaForge's warning about the Guardians and their unique ability to phase through solid objects. He and Dr. Crusher hadn't determined whether any of these traits had transferred into Mr. Sailes along with his entirely new personality, but they would find out in the morning when the man from DNX-920 was officially scheduled to be awakened and questioned.

Julian shut off his work station and ordered the computer to dim the lights in the Sickbay. He was preparing to return to his quarters when the unmistakable sound of a Dominion-style transporter caught his attention. A glow on the far side of the small room right next to the sleeping prisoner filtered through several vertical bands of bluish-green and finally coalesced into a shadowy humanoid figure.

"He looks just like Harold Sailes, farmer and part time local council member from Volan doesn't he?" the newcomer said to Dr. Bashir using a very gravelly, very familiar voice. "At first glance most people would never even think to consider him as great a threat to Federation security as the Dominion and the Borg, would they?"

"Computer, restore lighting to full illumination," Bashir demanded. The computer quickly obliged and he stared with disbelief at the man standing in front of him. "_Sloan_," he gasped, recognizing the cocky, unmistakable grin on the face of one of the most dangerous people he had ever met. "But it _can't_ be you, you're _dead_!"

"Do you really think that I'd willingly commit suicide without a way back? How could I when there's so much work left to be done keeping our United Federation of Planets safe from its enemies?" He stepped forward, and his expression changed from one of mild humor at Bashir's reaction to his unexpected presence instantaneously back to a look of deadly seriousness.

Julian picked up a medical tricorder off the nearest countertop and began scanning Sloan carefully. He slowly ran the small handheld input sensor up and down the length of the man's torso and quickly confirmed his suspicions on the tricorder's small screen. "I'm detecting some mild gene sequence degradation at the cellular level along with a barely noticeable genetic drift. Aside from that your DNA is identical to the original Sloan… the man who intentionally poisoned himself in my Infirmary back on Deep Space Nine." Bashir looked him straight in the eyes. "You're a clone of the original, aren't you?"

Sloan very slowly clapped his hands together in a mockery of applause. "Very good Dr. Bashir – no one can deny that you're one of the best physicians in Starfleet and one hell of a moral guy." The smirk returned to his face. "The Breen took a lot from the Cardassian Union and the demilitarized zone at the end of the recent war, but they didn't get the Dominion cloning facilities. Most of them were destroyed, but my people captured one of them intact."

Bashir frowned. "I've been expecting a visit from one of your Section 31 comrades," he said truthfully. "The original version of you seemed convinced that I would enjoy helping you during times of crisis… perhaps even leap at the attempt to join Starfleet's infamous super secret intelligence gathering organization."

"You definitely like to play secret agent in those holo-suites back on Deep Space Nine," Sloan said with yet another condescending smile. "My friends and I at Section 31 just wanted to give you the opportunity to play that role for real, and help the Federation at the same time."

"What do you _want_ Sloan?" Bashir demanded with a hint of scorn in his voice. "Why are you here? Up until a few hours ago, the _Defiant_ wasn't even officially part of the fleet preparing to attack the Dark Nebula project. So what can _I_ possibly do for _you_?"

Sloan held up his hands and shrugged his shoulders. "I won't burden you with our usual debate about ethics, morality or the dangers that you repeatedly claim are created by an organization within Starfleet that conducts its covert operations without boundaries. I simply stopped by to give you this." He took a lengthy metallic pen-shaped cylinder out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Bashir.

"And just what is this?" the Doctor asked him, examining the silver container carefully.

"That is a trilithium compound that can easily be added to the warhead of a standard photon torpedo," Sloan replied without a hint of emotion. "Please give it to Captain Picard with my compliments, and include my strong recommendation that he use it to torpedo the DNX-920 sun and effectively kill off everything in that system. Once the orbiting planets have been destroyed by the shock wave from the dying star, I think you'll find that the Breen and the reptilians will give you no further trouble."

"Are you completely _insane_?" Bashir asked him. "Seriously… what in the world would make you think that the Captain would even remotely consider such an environmental travesty? I'll give it to him all right, so he can take this illegal compound back to Starfleet where they'll lock it away someplace _safe_."

"That small amount of trilithium will save lives Doctor. Lots of them," Sloan insisted, pointing at the small metal cylinder that Bashir still held. "Our enemies in this matter have stepped over the line and they deserve no mercy. I don't think any of our people should have to die for actions that _they_ freely chose as part of their plan to conquer us." He frowned with disappointment. "I know my original self has never been able to convince you how necessary it is to break the law sometimes in order to enforce it, so I'll just leave now before we begin one of those endless debates again."

As Sloan was speaking, Bashir thumbed a coded sequence into his medical tricorder and activated a preset program. He had positioned himself by the room's only exit and watched with satisfaction as a sparkling blue forcefield popped into existence between him and the back wall of the room. Sloan was effectively trapped by the bed next to the unconscious prisoner.

"You're not leaving just yet," the Doctor told him with anger.

"Oh really Dr. Bashir," Sloan said, sounding extremely disappointed. "You don't seriously think that I'm going to let you trap me again do you? I think I've learned enough about you and your engineering friends to be ready for any move you might make."

"Things have changed for Section 31," said Bashir with a grin. "You may not have gotten the memo yet, but you're not nearly as superior as you think you are."

"Just give Picard the trilithium and tell him I strongly suggest that he use it," Sloan said with a hint of boredom in his voice. "I won't burden you with anything else this time." He touched a mechanism attached to his left forearm and the Dominion transporter energy swirled around his body and dissolved him away…

* * *

…to almost instantly reappear in a small room with metallic walls that looked completely unfamiliar to him. Reacting with surprise, Sloan grabbed the device on his arm and began tapping in a series of emergency commands. The device barked a series of electronic chatter at him but otherwise was completely non-responsive to his urgent attempts to reactivate it.

"What's the matter Sloan," said Kathryn Janeway from behind him. "Isn't your super-secret equipment working properly? Perhaps we could have one of our _engineering _officers take a look at it for you to make certain there's been no malfunction…"

Sloan whirled around with angry surprise. He was in someone's brig, trapped behind a force field… that much was immediately obvious. Standing in front of him was Admiral Janeway and right next to her was Captain Jean Luc Picard. Both of them had their arms folded in front of them and the confident smiles on their faces gave him more cause for concern than anyone or anything he had encountered in a long time.

"You heard everything I said to Julian didn't you?" he snarled, stepping forward and pausing just short of touching the shimmering force field. "How did you arrange this?"

"I spent much of _my_ recent past in the delta quadrant, so I'll let Jean Luc explain it to you," Janeway said with a smirk, walking back toward the security guard supervising the control console on the far side of the brig. "You're dismissed Ensign," she said. "I'll take over and we'll call for you when we're done here."

"Aye Admiral," the young woman said, setting the controls on standby and walking out of the cavernous room and into the starship corridor outside.

"Welcome to the _Enterprise_ Mr. Sloan," Picard said with a tinge of sarcasm. "I know your visit here is somewhat unscheduled, but since you've already taken the opportunity to speak with people on three of the ships in this fleet the Admiral and I thought that perhaps you'd like to visit with us directly." He paced slowly back and forth in front of Sloan's cell with his hands at his sides. "After all, it would be most unfortunate if anything of urgent concern to the survival of the Federation got caught up in the usual red tape, wouldn't it?"

"Do you know who I _am_?" Sloan asked, his tone completely condescending.

"Yes I do. Your name is Sloan and you are the man in charge of Section 31, a super-secret branch of Starfleet that supposedly answers to no one." Picard continued pacing in front of the cell and then paused, glancing defiantly at the man confined within. "You do whatever it takes to enforce Federation security and are bound by no laws. Well I'm here to tell you Mr. Sloan that as of _this_ moment that mission statement has been irrevocably _changed_… Section 31 now answers directly to Starfleet, and we report to the Federation Council."

"Really," Sloan said with an angry outburst of contempt. "I can make you _disappear_, Captain. I can make you vanish from Starfleet permanently, and that _is_ a threat."

Picard's response was an extremely well-timed, dramatic pause. Finally he pointed at the device on Sloan's forearm and raised an eyebrow. "I think you will find, sir, that the tables have been turned. If you don't believe me then why don't you go ahead and use your device to transport away from here." He watched Sloan's confidence waver as the man's thoughts returned to the ineffectiveness of his armband and his unexpected arrival in the _Enterprise_ brig. "You see," Picard continued, "We Captains in Starfleet are extremely sick and tired of your Section 31 thugs beaming onto our starships without permission and otherwise corrupting our officers and crew. If you do not cooperate fully with my orders now and in the future then I _guarantee_ you the next location that you materialize in will be deep space. And that is _also_ a threat, Mr. Sloan."

"You have no knowledge of my organization," he said hotly to Picard. "Most of it exists only in the minds of the people who are responsible for executing its objectives."

"Then it should be extremely important to you that you and your operatives don't begin… disappearing," Picard said emphatically. "We know more about you than you think we do. Ever since you first compromised the security of Deep Space Nine during the Dominion war, Captains like me have been working very hard to learn everything possible about Section 31 and its personnel. We know the identity of each and every one of you, and to counter the threat you represent all Starfleet Captains have created an unofficial 'club' to insure that you do not act in the future without first advising us of any intelligence data you gather. You will contact one or more of us directly… _not_ our junior officers. And you are expressly forbidden to take _any _offensive action against a perceived enemy without our direct authorization to do so."

"_Since I first compromised the security of Deep Space Nine_?" Sloan shouted, his anger boiling over. "We were saving the entire alpha quadrant, or have you forgotten about that?" He shot an angry look past Picard at Admiral Janeway, who was busying herself in the background by nonchalantly studying the security console in front of her. "How does Starfleet's Admiralty feel about this new Captain's club?" Hearing the mocking tone of his words she glanced up at Sloan with a look that sent an unexpected stab of uncertainty bursting through him.

"Most of the members of the Starfleet Admiralty used to _be_ starship Captains in case you've forgotten," she said with a tone in her voice that caught and held his attention. "We're honorary members, since part of our job is to make certain that good commanders like Jean Luc have our complete support. It helps keep morale at a peak, you see. Particularly during those times of crisis when we are forced to ask them to trust us and risk their lives and the lives of their crews based upon instructions presented to them from a command structure that is often times dozens of light years distant."

"This is outrageous!" Sloan insisted, shaking his head with total disagreement. "Without us Starfleet would have fallen to its enemies centuries ago…"

"That statement is absolute _garbage_ and you _know_ it!" Picard shouted back at him. "_With_ you the Founders were on the verge of extermination! The Federation, with all of the elegantly worded virtues contained within its charter, almost became guilty of genocide." Picard stood directly in front of Sloan's cell with only the force field barrier separating them and stared him down. "That Doctor on board the _Defiant_ and the Captain who supported him deserve our most profound gratitude, not you. _They _didn't give in to the temptation to do evil under the false pretense of preventing evil. That crew _preserved_ the vitality of our culture and persevered where you and your so-called Section 31 operatives had already given up."

"You are _so_ unenlightened on this matter Captain," Sloan said softly, trying to regroup and counter Picard's argument. "You simply have no idea what we are…"

"I know _precisely _what you are," Picard told him. "After all, you smugly walk around the galaxy telling everyone – you are people who answer to no one. And like all people with absolute power you have been corrupted _absolutely_." His face turned red as his anger suddenly returned. "You are little tin gods who sit in dark rooms making secret plans and have convinced yourself that you represent the intelligentsia of the universe. None of you have commanded a starship yourselves or had to write letters to the relatives of crewmembers killed in the line of duty, yet you can out guess an Admiral or preach tactical strategy to Captains." Picard's latest burst of anger reached a ferocity that was unequaled save for the rage he had felt during the aftermath of the first Borg crisis. "_You don't defeat the enemy by becoming the enemy_!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "And _you_, sir, and your companions have _become_ the enemy!"

"We know up front that people will hate us," countered Sloan. "That's part of _my_ job. One of the disadvantages of doing the things that no one else wants to do or that others consider to be immoral is that we are hated for it. And that hatred, Captain, allows people like you to feel better about yourselves because _you_ don't have to make those decisions and live with the consequences. You get to sit back in that command seat on your bridge and simply hate us!"

Picard paused to let his rage subside. He took several deep breaths and the anger quickly faded from his face as he slowly walked toward the rear of the room and stood next to Admiral Janeway. She nodded with approval and handed him an electronic data pad, which he glanced at briefly and then returned to stand in front of Sloan's cell.

"Again you speak in half truths sir. I happen to be one of the unlucky Captains who has been repeatedly forced these past years to clean up the consequences of your actions and risk my own life and career as a Starfleet officer in order to do it. Unfortunately, there are others listed here who have not been as lucky as I have."

"_What are you talking about Picard_?" Sloan screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I'm talking about the birth of the Maquis," the Captain replied calmly. "During that time, Benjamin Sisko and his allies managed to catch the Cardassian military red-handed supplying weapons to its colonists in the demilitarized zone. Yet somehow despite Starfleet's commitment to non-involvement in the matter someone was also supplying ships and weapons to the Federation colonists. You are nothing but a contemptible gun-runner sir."

"Should we have let those people die? Are you saying _you_ haven't supplied weapons…?"

"I'm talking about Admiral Kennelly," the Captain interrupted. "A Starfleet Admiral who was directly influenced by Section 31 to conspire with Cardassian Guls and allow them an opportunity to assassinate Bajorans labeled by said Cardassians as terrorists." He glared at Sloan with renewed emotion in his expression. "I'm talking about Captain Benjamin Maxwell, a starship commander who carried deep emotional baggage with him for years after the Federation's first war with the Cardassians. It didn't take a lot of convincing by your operatives – one of whom was masquerading as a member of his crew – to wage psychological warfare against him. You used his personal pain over the loss of his family to persuade Maxwell into ordering an unprovoked attack inside Cardassian borders in a blatant attempt to prove that they were re-arming for a new war. Both Kennelly and Maxwell have been forced into very different career paths since they encountered your operatives from Section 31."

"You can't blame those incidents totally on us," Sloan said defensively. "We…"

"I'm talking about Admiral Pressman," Picard said, interrupting him once again. "On two separate occasions members of Section 31 convinced him to experiment with the development of Federation cloaking technology despite the fact that such actions are expressly prohibited by treaty agreements signed in good faith by the Federation Council. The second of these incidents involving the starship _Pegasus_ also implicated my first officer Commander Riker, as well as one Admiral Blackwell. These are three more people whose lives and careers have never been the same since their encounter with you."

"Now who's not telling the entire truth?" Sloan asked him, boiling over with anger of his own. "Your android second officer and the _Defiant_ both used cloaking technology in order to rescue your Dark Nebula team."

"_Not_ without my express permission to do so," Picard pointed out. "And since Data is _my_ officer and I am the Captain of _this_ ship _I_ have the authority to break the rules when I see fit, whereas your authority to do so comes from… nowhere."

"So you bend and break the rules like I do, but in your case it's justified and in mine it's not?" Sloan's laugh was utterly condescending. His effort to mock Picard was cut short as Janeway suddenly appeared next to the Captain and caught his eyes with her own.

"Picard is Captain of the Federation flagship and he is granted military authority to make those tough calls by the Federation charter," the Admiral said defiantly to Sloan. "His actions are constantly reviewed by Starfleet Internal Affairs – an objective board comprised of our finest people whom you have been caught trying to impersonate on numerous occasions. Picard has also risked court martial many times in order to carry out the missions assigned to him by Starfleet's Admiralty." She locked her gaze on him with a decent amount of her own scorn. "During this time _you_ have been under no such scrutiny." She casually waved a hand at the Captain. "Please continue Jean Luc, I don't think he gets it yet…"

The Captain glanced down once again at the data pad in his hands. "Section 31's most recent project – a plan to relocate 600 Ba'ku citizens so that Son'a technology could be used to rob the Ba'ku home planet of its natural resources has had permanent consequences for one Admiral Dougherty, who is regrettably _deceased_." He angrily threw the data pad away from him and it clattered loudly against the wall at the far end of the room before dropping out of sight to the dimly lit floor below. "The first question that Commander Riker asked when he learned of the Federation's involvement with the Son'a people was why the hell we would work with them. Well Mr. Sloan I would like to now pose that _same_ question to you. _Why_ were we involved with those butchers?"

"They had the technology already available to harvest that planet's resources for the benefit of medical breakthroughs that would impact the entire galaxy. It would have taken Starfleet _years_ with its multiple irons in the fire to reach that same objective. Particularly during the aftermath of the Dominion war it was of extreme importance to find faster and more efficient ways to heal injuries." Sloan was noticeably rattled, and he moved to the rear of the small cell and sat down as he struggled unsuccessfully to regain his composure. "You're twisting the truth…"

"I'm _stating_ the truth!" disagreed Picard. "Using cold hard, provable facts I'm stating the truth and you're not exactly arguing your side of this debate very successfully." He once again began a slow pace back and forth in front of the cell. "It's interesting to me that you bring up the Dominion, particularly when Section 31 considered them such a massive threat to Federation security that the Founders who led them had to be _wiped out as a race_. Your scientists even created a genetic disease designed specifically to do so."

"You don't think they were a _threat_?" he snarled in reply, his composure notably breaking down further and further as the conversation progressed.

"They _were_ a threat yes! Now that _alternatives_ to your _recommendation_ have been carried out the Founders are a new and growing ally! But let's take a closer look at you personally Mr. Sloan," decided Picard. "You'll forgive me if I continue to call you Mister, but your organization is so _secret_ you can't even tell people your real name. If I'm not mistaken you are a clone of the original man known as Sloan, created with stolen Dominion technology. Additionally, you have spent most of this evening using one of their long range transporters to beam on and off several of the starships in this fleet. Haven't you _become _the enemy you were so determined to wipe out? Aren't you using the _same_ types of tactics that are so deplorable when the Founders or the Breen wield them?" He waved a hand angrily at Sloan's electronic armband. "You certainly behave like the Vorta used to."

"I… don't quite know how to respond to that," Sloan said after a long pause. He sighed heavily from his seated position and slowly rubbed his forehead with his right hand. "Our efforts have been aimed at preserving everything that we've worked so hard for _centuries_ to build."

"That is _not_ your job sir, it is _mine_!" the Captain stated fiercely as he pointed at Admiral Janeway. "And it is also hers! _We_ are vested with the authority to protect the Federation, and maintaining its security is _our_ job and most certainly not yours."

Sloan sat there with a grim-faced expression for a moment and then cast an exhausted gaze toward the two people standing on the other side of the force field. "What would you have me do?" he asked wanly. "Section 31 is as old as Starfleet itself."

"Your options are two," Picard replied without the slightest bit of hesitation. "We have been gathering data on your network for years and decided that you will either work directly for Starfleet or you will disband. There is no other choice on this matter."

"Me work for you?" Sloan said, his massive ego evident in the disgust he showed.

"That's right," the Captain told him. "What's the matter Sloan? Wouldn't you make the _same_ decision in all of these instances I've mentioned if it meant that the consequences might include a court martial? Wouldn't you make those _same_ choices to protect the Federation if you had to answer for them this time rather than simply slinking off to your next project and leaving the mess you make for other people to clean up?"

"It's very obvious to me that you have as much idealism as the good Doctor Bashir," Sloan decided as he continued to flinch each time the Captain sternly dressed him down. "In theory it's a wonderful thing to have, but in actual practice I'm afraid it falls a little short…"

"_In actual practice_ it has worked for Admirals, Commodores, and starship Captains alike for over two centuries," Picard yelled at him, forcing the man to fall silent again. "It has worked and it has worked well… despite your continued interference in virtually every major crisis the Federation has faced. I've given you your two options Sloan – come out of the shadows and register your people with Starfleet and begin following the same rules as we do or disband Section 31 completely. Those are your choices… this matter is closed."

"Not quite yet it isn't, Jean Luc," Janeway said, holding up one hand for emphasis. "Earlier in our conversation I directly witnessed you threatening Captain Picard with physical harm. I feel it only fair to advise you that this entire conversation – along with many of the other covert discussions you've had with Starfleet personnel – have been recorded and stored in our archives. We've got quite a list of evidence against your organization assembled and are prepared to make it public if we need to. One word from me or anyone else in authority and you're going to need a lot of lawyers." She studied his reaction carefully. "Many of my predecessors tolerated you and at times even unofficially cooperated with your efforts. That is now in the past."

"Again, I don't quite know how to respond to that," Sloan repeated with futility.

"Then don't – but consider this. Captain Picard has already mentioned the death of Admiral Dougherty and he is not the only casualty on our list. If we discover at any point in the future, by accident or design, that harm has come to a member of Starfleet or a Federation citizen due to unauthorized activity by your organization the consequences you suffer will be severe." She paused and Sloan looked at her with a beaten expression in his eyes. "It should be obvious to you since you're here that the operative on the other end of your transporter is either working for us or we've bypassed his system. We're not telling you how many of your people have changed sides, but if you reject Captain Picard's offer or try to harm him or anyone else, I guarantee that you and anyone else involved will all be dead within 24 hours. That's my promise to you, and my guarantee to Picard that he is backed by the Admiralty and Starfleet Command that he serves."

Janeway turned around and walked back over to the security console near the room's only exit. She deactivated the force field on Sloan's cell and watched him simply sit there, uncertain of what to do next. They let him think about their conversation for a moment as he took a good hard look at himself before the Admiral finally nodded to Picard.

"Get off my ship and out of this fleet," the Captain ordered. "Go back to your not so secret society, and take a good long look around as _you_ learn for the first time what it's like to be among people whom you can't totally trust. The experience should serve to enlighten you, but your own morals are so jaded from all those years of convincing yourself that you're a god amongst us mere mortals that I seriously doubt it will."

Sloan rose to his feet without another word and touched the keypad on his forearm. Vertical bands of bluish-green transporter energy immediately seized him and he promptly vanished from the _Enterprise_ brig as quickly as he had arrived.

* * *

It was usually very quiet during the night shift aboard Deep Space Nine and – since he did not require sleep – Odo decided to take advantage of the solitude as well as a quick tour of his old stomping grounds. The time he had spent in the gamma quadrant had dramatically changed him and it had taken him longer than he would have expected after leaving the other changelings on his home world to regain the composure and mindset needed for life as a solid. While linked with the other shape shifters his own individual personality became very hard to retain as it tended to blend together with the vast number of others connected with him.

That had actually worked toward the Federation's advantage as his shared memories had given the Founders a rare glimpse into the daily lives of the solids as well as their extreme emotions. Having access to the kind and compassionate memories that Odo shared with his friends on the space station had significantly helped them overcome their long-term prejudices much faster than would have been possible with verbal debate alone. Their previous mindset that all solids were their enemy had existed for centuries and was wiped almost completely away in less than an hour's time. They still didn't completely trust many of the solid species, but Odo was quite satisfied that their agenda no longer included pure racial hatred for every solid they met.

During his years as DS9's Constable and head of security, Odo had personally witnessed the horrified reactions of the station's personnel as they discovered one after another the terrible, hideous things that the Dominion had done to planets and races who dared oppose their military dictatorship in the gamma quadrant. For example, suddenly having access to Odo's firsthand knowledge of Julian Bashir's anger regarding the Quickening plague had shocked them to their very core. Emotions were normally much more difficult for them to process, and from the Founders' perspective they had merely deployed the virus to take revenge against a prosperous society that was fighting for its independence. Suddenly exposed to Odo's memories of Bashir's horrified reactions to the death and destruction their retaliation had caused was a true eye opener for them as to just how cruel and heartless they were perceived as by the solids.

Also notable to them was the Federation Council's shock regarding their cavalier attitude toward sentient living beings, particularly their process of cloning Vorta and Jem'Hadar and additionally addicting the latter to Ketrocel White. The inhumanity of this form of slavery was also another inhumane tactic that they quickly realized had caused the solids to fear them all the more. The realization that many races not only had the courage to stand up to their bully mentality – and also how their own actions had actually caused much of the hatred and rage that they claimed had been directed at them – was a stark wake up call. How they were perceived in the eyes of others had never mattered before, but this suddenly became a very important issue for them upon Odo's return… particularly when they learned that for a time even the laid back, well-mannered Constable had hated his own people and what they stood for.

Odo continued to digest the massive amounts of new information from his recent link with his people as he took a private tour of the Promenade. He could begin to feel the individual within him return as he noted with satisfaction that Garak's old tailor shop was now a Cardassian restaurant. He felt that it was a nice homage to the Cardassian people and an excellent peace offering by the Bajoran society continuing to govern the station with Federation assistance. All of the shops were closed for the night and the entire Promenade was pretty much empty aside from a few security guards scattered throughout the area. Feeling a bit nostalgic now that he was holding solid form for much of the day again, Odo walked over to his old security office and found himself smiling a bit as he looked inside and remembered his time here.

"Thinking about coming back to us Odo?" asked a familiar voice from behind him.

A bit embarrassed by the unexpected interruption of his private time, Odo spun and glared at the short man standing behind him. "Fortunately for you Quark, _no_." He watched the Ferengi bartender casually polishing a glass with a clean white cloth and snorted with amusement. "What are you doing up this early, counting your latinum?"

"Just making sure everything is all clean and tidy for tomorrow," Quark replied with a smug grin. "Business is booming now that the war is over."

Odo snorted a second time. "You _were_ counting your latinum, weren't you?"

"Someone's got to track the profits and keep them growing," agreed Quark. "My brother's new tax rates to help females move into the working world are far too high. I'll have to make sure and point that out to him the next time I'm home for a visit."

"How are Rom and his wife Leeta? They're well I hope."

"Yes."

"And your cousin Gaila… how is he?"

"He's as cantankerous as ever," Quark said as he glared at Odo. "Aren't you going to ask me how _I'm_ doing?" he wondered, watching Odo's reaction carefully.

"I know how _you're _doing – you were up early counting your pile of latinum," replied Odo smugly, harrumphing at the large-eared alien with his usual irritation.

"Well, it would be nice if you asked," decided Quark as he tried to sound hurt.

Odo ignored the Ferengi's comment and pointed to the empty security office in front of them. "Isn't someone supposed to be on duty in there at all times?" he asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice. "That's the way Starfleet wanted things done when I was here, and I doubt that the policy has changed much since I left."

"Ensign Baker usually covers the night shift, but he probably left to go and get a cup of raktajino," Quark said nonchalantly, pointing over his shoulder. "Who cares, anyway? There are at least three Starfleet guards stationed throughout the Promenade 26 hours per day. Good luck pulling off any shady deals around this place. And now that you mention it, nothing _really_ has changed much since you left Odo."

"_I care_," Odo told him as he extended his right arm out in front of him. The changeling's arm morphed into a reddish-orange substance that quickly melted and spread against the entrance to the security office. Finding the crevice in the center of the two doors, Odo's entire body dissolved into a gelatinous state and quickly oozed through the seam and inside the office. The changeling fluid moved slowly across the floor to a spot right in front of the desk and then flowed vertically upright and converted back into the familiar humanoid form.

Quark pointed an accusing finger at his old nemesis as Odo touched a pad on the wall and opened the office doors. "That's breaking and entering!" the Ferengi pointed out. "Or… _flowing_ and entering… call it whatever you want but _you're_ not in charge of security here any longer."

"I should be," Odo decided, glancing carefully at the security consoles on the room's central desk. "Tell me," he said firmly as he glanced up at Quark, "Just who is in charge of security on Deep Space Nine these days?"

"Lieutenant-Commander Rodriguez," the Ferengi said off-handedly. "But you'd better have a good reason for waking him in the middle of the night…"

Odo tapped the Bajoran communicator that General Kira had given to him for the duration of the peace conference. "Odo to Commander Rodriguez," he said with his firm, mostly emotionless tone. "Odo to Rodriguez, please respond."

Quark watched the changeling uncomfortably and there was a brief pause. "_Rodriguez here_," was the eventual reply. "_What can I do for you so early in the morning, Odo_?"

"I think you'd better come down here to the security office on the double," Odo replied. "The Ensign you have assigned to the night shift is nowhere to be found, and I've just confirmed that all security systems in the habitat ring have been temporarily disabled."

"_I'll be right there_," replied Rodriguez with an urgent note of concern.

* * *

Shortly before going off-shift the prior evening, Commander Patrick Hazelton had received word that the _Defiant _would be delayed in its return to Deep Space Nine. General Kira had sent him a subspace message to let him know that she planned to join Captain Picard's fleet of ships and assist with his planned confrontation with the Breen. The enemy was still occupying the Dark Nebula, and it was blatantly obvious to the Commander that something major was in the works. Since Hazelton was used to being in command of the station during the times when General Kira was on Bajor, the news didn't exactly catch him by surprise. He had simply taken care of the necessary Administrative duties in his office, double-checked Ops and then returned to his quarters to get some well deserved rest.

There were still a lot of representatives from various cultures sticking around for the planned conclusion of the peace conference. The closing ceremony had been postponed for a couple of days after it became obvious to General Kira that Picard was going to need some extra help from the DS9 crew as well as the _Defiant_ to assist in tracking down his missing officers. Each day was a busy one, and Hazelton was extremely grateful that the Promenade was once again filled with flourishing businesses, since it gave many of the delegates something to do – along with the opportunity to spend most of their time shopping or gambling. Keeping the station secure and organized during the conference was one of his responsibilities, so he certainly didn't need a lot of bored Ambassadors wandering idly around the key areas of the station.

He alertly woke up very early in the new morning with the knowledge that something odd was going on. He had heard a soft rustling movement from across the room and he slowly opened his eyes with a fog of sleepiness still wrapped around his mind. Preparing to dismiss the noise as part of a random dream he began to fall back asleep when he suddenly heard the door to his quarters slide shut. That new sound was more obvious and brought him fully awake since he vividly remembered locking the door shortly before settling down for the night. He suddenly realized that the sound of the door opening was probably what had initially awakened him, after which the rustling sound had then caught his attention. Without a hint of movement he laid on his side in bed, eyes scanning the room carefully for any sign of movement.

From out of the darkness, a shadowy figure suddenly lunged at him and he moved quickly, diving off of the bed and rolling across the floor and out of the way. He tripped the assailant and heard a frustrated grunt, and as the dark shadow of a man fell against the side of his bed Hazelton punched him hard in the kidney area. In the room's dim night lighting he saw what looked like a hypo spray fall to the floor and he stared at it in complete shock, distracted just long enough for the intruder to kick backward and catch him full in the stomach. Gasping in pain he fell to his knees as whoever it was spun quickly and punched him in the face.

Hazelton lashed out with his forearm and heard another grunt of surprise, but something heavy struck him hard on the head and a flash of pain burst through his still groggy consciousness. Standing quickly upright, he swung his right arm again and punched the attacker hard. He tried to follow up the attack with another left jab but the attack was blocked, and again something hard hit the side of his head. Dizzy from the two blows to his skull, Commander Hazelton toppled over backwards and landed flat on his back. He could hear the intruder scrambling in the background and struggled to shake off the pain in his head.

Before he could react, the hypo spray hissed against his arm and the dizziness he felt instantly increased. He felt his muscles go numb and, trying to stand up to continue the fight, he fell back onto the floor and was unable to move. Too late he tried to call out for help and discovered that the drug he had been injected with was affecting his speech as well. He could still feel the pain from the blows he had received and suddenly hard metal pressed coldly against his forehead. Fear reared its ugly head inside of him and threatened to dominate his emotions as he felt something sharp eject from the metal and pierce the flesh in his forehead.

Again he heard the sound of the door to his quarters opening, then loud shouts from the outside corridor. The lights in the room returned to full illumination and he glanced up with surprise at the image of Ensign Baker standing above him with a completely emotionless expression on his face. Baker's deadpan demeanor quickly turned to one of outrage as he looked hurriedly toward the door. He reached out toward the device on Hazelton's forehead but an orange blast from a Federation-issue hand phaser caught him full in the chest and threw him backwards onto the bed. From his awkward position on the floor, Hazelton could see Baker slowly trying to stand up as a second phaser shot caught him full in the abdomen.

"What's… going on?" the Commander asked woozily as his chief of security, Carl Rodriguez helped him slowly to his feet. He felt the metal pressing against his forehead disappear and he glanced around the room at Rodriguez and the three security guards standing next to him. Odo had twisted Baker's arms behind his back and was holding the stunned Ensign helpless. Beside them on the bed were the hypo spray and an extremely strange-looking mechanical device that was shaped like a cortical stimulator. "What… happened?" asked Hazelton again.

"We're not exactly sure yet Commander," Rodriguez told him. "But I assure you we're going to find out. Ambassador Odo noticed that Ensign Baker mysteriously left his post at the security station and called me. He also pointed out that our monitoring systems in the habitat ring were disabled, so we checked further and the computer verified that the lock specific to your quarters had also been deactivated, all with Baker's security code. That pointed us in the right direction and it looks like we got here just in time." He glanced at the groggy Baker with anger. "The Ensign also has a subroutine planted in the security computer which he was planning to use to erase the security log as soon as he returned from his attack on you."

Hazelton took a deep breath and looked gratefully at Odo. "Thank you," he said gratefully as the dizziness and nausea continued to slowly subside. "You have my gratitude, Ambassador. I don't know what he injected me with or what his motive is for this attack on me, but I think it's probably got something to do with the Breen situation."

"Quite certainly it also has something to do with this," Odo suggested, handing him the small metal device.

It was a metallic rectangle approximately twelve centimeters by five with a smaller, angled rectangle attached to both its shorter left and right sides. He could see a nasty looking needle projecting out from the central area of the device, no doubt what had pierced his skin and caused the pain he felt. Tiny red lights on both sides of the center rectangle blinked steadily, so it was obvious that the mechanism had its own internal power source.

At the sight of the sinister device a burst of emotion caused the dizziness to return again. "Okay I need a little help," the Commander decided suddenly, and Rodriguez hastily grabbed him again and helped to steady him. "This is certainly no way to wake up in the morning!"

"I think you should come down to the Infirmary with us sir," the security chief suggested. "We don't know yet what he used that hypo spray to inject you with, and you have several large bruises and some blood on your forehead."

"That will be fine with me," the Commander decided, still feeling a bit unsteady. "Please assign someone to examine that device immediately, and have Ensign Baker confined to the brig so we can interrogate him."

"If you'll allow me to, I'd like to assist with the prisoner," Odo offered. "It's been awhile since I've been to Deep Space Nine's brig, but I've got a lot of experience questioning suspects."

"Be my guest," Rodriguez decided, nodding to his three security people. "Please accompany Mr. Odo and throw Ensign Baker here into a cell. I'll take the Commander to the Infirmary and assign someone to begin looking at this… _thing_." He took the device from Hazelton with extreme curiosity and examined it closely, trying to fathom just what it was that would motivate an up-and-coming Starfleet officer like Baker to attack his Commander in the middle of the night.


	16. Intelligence Gathering

_There's a LOT going on in my schedule this month and part of next. It's actually possible that I might MISS a mid-week update here or there... but I assure you, it's only because I want to be sure and reread and triple-check everything to make sure it's as good as it can be. We are entering the final arc of the storyline after all! I want to leave everyone with a great Trek memory here! So if the updates are a couple of days late, don't worry - usually I shoot for 7 - 10 days between postings! Oh, and it's "Disclaimer" time again!_

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**DISCLAIMER:** _The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come._

**Star Trek: Absolution**

_If anyone is interested as to how I'm judging distances between planets, Federation border specifics, etc. Well, let's just say that "bravofleet dot com" has a really great Trek database which includes a detailed map of the alpha & beta quadrants. So if you get a chance, be sure to check it out!_

_I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres._

**Chapter XVI: Intelligence Gathering**

Deanna Troi brushed back her long dark hair and smiled reassuringly at the woman sitting across from her in her private quarters. It had taken a while to complete the process of updating Tasha Yar on the facts behind the history of _this_ Federation, the one that had never quite swerved into an all-out war with the Klingon Empire.

"Our history has unfolded quite differently than the non-stop fighting that you were accustomed to in your timeline," she explained. "Our Federation has had its share of conflicts too, but fortunately for us none of them has lasted for decades or stretched our resources to the breaking point. Our recent conflict with the Dominion did span a number of years and was easily the costliest war that I've observed in my lifetime."

Troi herself was extremely pleased that Riker, Data, and the rest of the _Enterprise_ command crew had safely returned. It was true that she was fully trained and qualified as a Starfleet Commander, but her specialty was working with people and everyone aboard knew it. Her Betazoid empathic sense was telling her that this Tasha – the woman who had traveled from one timeline to another – had known only hard labor and suffering during her time in a Romulan prison camp and was badly in need of new friends right now.

Yar had moved directly from a long-term, stressful Klingon war into a brief life of luxury as the prisoner and consort of a Romulan Admiral more than thirty years in the past. After her first escape attempt with her newborn daughter Sela had failed, she had been banished to a lifetime of imprisonment.

"So the _younger_ me from this timeline really did die?" Tasha asked her, watching Troi nod in reply. "All these years I've been wondering whether or not Guinan was right… and if so how she could possibly have known that."

"We're not exactly certain ourselves how Guinan knows some of the things she does," Deanna told her. "She has had these special 'insights' on several occasions, and they could simply be the result of traits native to her species or perhaps the lingering after effects of an encounter she had many years ago with an astronomical phenomenon known simply as the Nexus." She shrugged her shoulders, remembering so many things past. "Your death was extremely painful for _me_ in particular, because I hadn't known you for very long, and you gave your life in an attempt to save mine."

"I bet you never thought you'd have the chance to say thank you," Yar said with a light laugh, struggling to find humor despite the waves of emotion she was feeling.

"No, I can't say that I did," Deanna said with an amused laugh. She took a deep breath and really looked at Tasha, noticing her gray hair, wrinkled eyes and fatigued appearance. "You were so young and fresh out of Starfleet Academy when I knew you, and now it's obvious that you have endured so much that I sincerely want to find a way to help you."

"Any life you can offer me here is better than where I was," Tasha decided. "To be honest, I never expected to have the opportunity to escape again. But the warden who ran the camps on the planet I was on liked to fly in periodically for _surprise_ inspections. He always got VIP treatment and traveled with an entourage of women who were hand picked because they liked to party. One night he drank way too much and the women got bored and started hitting on the guards." She shrugged. "Needless to say the Centurions stationed in prison camps don't see females hanging around too often so it was pretty easy for me to get the drop on one of them and steal his disruptor. From there I ordered him to quietly give me access to the landing strip, and then I stole the warden's scout ship."

Troi shook her head with sadness. "That sounds like a really dangerous risk you took," she commented. "You're quite fortunate to have made it all the way back to the Federation."

"I don't think they would have spared my life a second time," mused Tasha softly. "But no matter how long I lived among them I didn't _become_ like them – I didn't kill anyone on that colony. The only casualties they suffered were battle damage resulting from their ships firing on me first. I was simply trying to leave their Empire for a better life."

"Why did they spare your life the first time?"

"Because I was Sela's mother, and the Admiral who fathered her still had feelings for me. He was a compassionate man and very good to me until I tried to take Sela out of there… as the daughter of an Admiral she was growing up way too elitist and Romulan for my taste."

Troi shifted in her seat as she listened. "That's the part I don't understand," she stated. "Sela told Captain Picard that you were killed during your first escape attempt… she made a point of mocking your death and trying to convince him how Romulan she was."

Tasha laughed at the comment. "Sela tried to convince _everybody_ of her loyalty for a long time – many in the military simply didn't trust her because she was half human. She plotted and schemed and despite all that… from everything I heard through the rumor mill the Federation still managed to outwit her at every turn."

"Unfortunately for her, Sela had the misfortune to continually cross paths with a mutual android friend of ours," Troi pointed out. "He's really quite clever and it's extremely difficult to out maneuver him."

"Data?" Tasha threw back her head and laughed even louder while Deanna watched the wrinkles by her eyes crinkle together. "That makes me feel a lot better," she said finally. "I heard that my daughter got outwitted pretty badly on several occasions, but I had no idea it was _Data_ that she went up against. I suspect she never knew what hit her."

"Speaking of Data, I read his report summarizing the conversations he had with you. At one point you stated that Sela is now in one of those prisons. Are you certain of that?"

"That's correct. She was sent there for failing once too often. Me… well they never wanted me to breathe free air again simply because of the threat I represented due to the changes in the timeline that my presence here had already sparked. They were afraid of the Federation finding out too much, and they also spent years firing weapons around those quantum singularities that power their older warbirds trying to recreate the time portal." Tasha shook her head with disgust at the memory. "Their scientists aren't nearly as open-minded as Starfleet's – many times I was almost ready to yell at them that perhaps being in the vicinity of Narendra III was the missing factor… you never can tell where space and time are weakest. But I was determined _not_ to help them, and they wouldn't have listened anyway because they had already made up their minds to try and recreate the accident on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone."

Troi reviewed her notes on the data pad in front of her. "Data had quite a bit of time to visit with you while you were both on the surface of Stadia, and his report also mentions that you believe the Klingon war was most likely averted simply because the _Enterprise-C_ happened to be at Narendra III at a pivotal moment in time. That starship attacked four Romulan warbirds all by itself in defense of a Klingon colony and apparently convinced them that the Federation's ongoing offers of a peace treaty were genuine and worth serious consideration."

"That's exactly what Guinan and the Captain Picard from the other timeline believed," nodded Tasha. "When the _Enterprise-C_ first appeared to us we knew that it had traveled forward through time – probably through a time portal created by the weapons fire combined with the singularities from the warbird engines. Guinan's unique perception of the incident helped convince Picard that the _Enterprise-C_ had to go back even if it was lost with all hands in the process. Our historical records confirmed that the starship was supposed to be destroyed in that battle but had instead accidentally left its position 23 years in the past…"

"…and traveled into the future. From the Klingons perspective back then it must have appeared as though the Federation turned its tail and ran away from a fight," Troi guessed. "I'm somewhat of a student of Klingon philosophy and I'm sure they didn't care for that at all."

"We considered several options, including bringing both _Enterprise_s back to fight them off," said Tasha, her expression clouding over with emotions as she continued to remember those events from so long ago. "But we also knew that any evidence traveling back with us from the future would quite probably contaminate the original timeline just as much as the _Enterprise-C_'s abrupt departure had."

"So you went back with their crew because Guinan claimed you were already dead here?"

Tasha's eyes teared up. "I didn't know for certain," she said, "But Guinan was positive of it. She called my death here a meaningless one, a death that served no useful purpose."

"That wasn't very nice of her," Deanna decided. "She's usually not that blunt about sensitive issues like that, especially when it _wasn't_ a meaningless death – I was being held prisoner by a hideous alien entity and you were risking your life to save mine."

"Perhaps she's not that blunt _here_, but _there _we were living in a state of non-stop war and we were _all _pretty hard on each other at times," Tasha pointed out. "What she said motivated me… the _Enterprise-C_ had lost most of its command crew and while we were repairing her the Klingons attacked us and killed her Captain as well. That was when I asked Captain Picard for a transfer so that I could come back with the remainder of Captain Garrett's crew and turn the tables on the Romulans." She glanced down at the floor of the room and softly chuckled. "It's not very often that you get to take a time out in the middle of a battle, repair most of your damage, and then return right at the point where you left." She smiled at the memory. "When we came back we had weapons restored, full shields and Captain Picard had even allowed Geordi to spike half a dozen of the _Enterprise-C_'s photon torpedoes, effectively doubling their maximum yield."

"So you fought the battle that was supposed to be fought… surviving this time despite the fact that history had previously considered everyone dead."

"Yes we did," grinned Tasha. "We lost a _lot_ more people, including a close friend that I had made during our short time together. But we destroyed one warbird, crippled the warp drive on another, and severely damaged a third before we were finally boarded and they forcibly stopped us from shooting at them. We were hoping the Klingons could get help to us in time to drive off the remaining two ships but the assistance never came. The Romulan Admiral promised to spare us as long as I promised to become his permanent companion and the other members of the crew agreed to serve on his house staff. We didn't have much of a choice, and at the time we were all grateful that he showed us any kind of mercy. Despite already knowing the odds against us during that battle, I sincerely wasn't looking forward to dying."

"So the Romulans continued to hold you prisoner for all these years despite the fact that you had no inside knowledge of their military operations and no tactical value to them whatsoever…"

"That's right," Tasha snapped as repressed anger deep within her finally freed itself. "Sela for certain never wanted to see me happy and she _certainly_ didn't want me dead. Then she couldn't drop by and visit her mother occasionally – and gloat." Again Tasha laughed to herself. "That was in the earlier years – before she kept screwing up her assignments. I think it's rather ironic that the last time I saw her was during a project on a work crew I served on. We were busy building an addition onto the prison complex and prisoners from one of the other camps were also assigned to the same project." Her eyes flashed with anger at the memory. "I looked across a wide excavated ditch and suddenly there she was, trying not to stare at me with shame in her eyes. I just smiled and continued working… since she was now a prisoner _just like I was_."

"That must have been very emotional for you…"

Several tears ran from Tasha's eyes and she put a hand over them and wiped them away. "I don't quite know how to explain it – part of me will always care for her because she's my daughter, but having grown up in the Federation I simply couldn't stand the government and its corrupt value system that she grew up swearing to serve. There was simply no way those differences wouldn't tear us apart."

Troi carefully observed Tasha's emotions and keyed some notes into her data pad. "I think that's enough for now," she said sympathetically. "Captain Picard and I both appreciate your taking the time to fill us in on these details… we've had unexplained gaps in some of our own historical records that now make a lot more sense. He would've greeted you personally…"

"…But something major is in the works," Tasha grinned. "I've been away for awhile but not for _that_ long Counselor – I overheard some interesting conversations about the Dark Nebula while Data and I were on board the _Defiant_."

"_None_ of that is your concern right now," Deanna pointed out to her. "The Captain promised to stop by to see you immediately after his meeting concludes." She paused with a quizzical look in her eye. "Do you think the Romulans still consider you a threat to them?"

"I… don't know," Tasha said slowly. "I guess I haven't had time to think about it much."

"Well Captain Picard has," Troi informed her. "As soon as he received Data's report that you were alive and safely in our hands he made some inquiries to see about getting you a new identity." She stood up and handed a second data pad to Yar, keying in a sequence on its screen that displayed for her a list of files that were stored on it. "This is a historical background on the planet Bajor… it is a beautiful planet guarded by a space station with a Starfleet presence on it and a really wonderful place to live. If you like what you read here we can set up an alternate identity for you and _give_ you the happy life that you've been denied up until now."

"That would be great Counselor," Yar said with a relieved sigh.

"If you have any other questions or need additional help you are welcome to use the ship's computer to call me night or day. _Please_ let me know if you need anything else."

Yar glanced around the room and then out the star-filled window port behind Deanna. "So far I have just one question really," she said with a definite hint of curiosity in her tone as she carefully observed several of the other starships in the fleet floating alongside them.

"And what would that be?" Troi asked with a small smile.

"I want to know what happened to the _Enterprise-D_!" Tasha said with a loud laugh. "Granted, this is a very beautiful and modern-looking starship, but what in the hell was wrong with the old one?"

* * *

Admiral Janeway was the last to arrive in the _Enterprise_ briefing room. Like Picard, she was extremely relieved to sit down at the conference table and look around at the familiar faces from the Captain's team of well-trained, experienced command officers and see them all safely back from their various missions, healthy and accounted for. The two Xindi representatives, Jommyn and Pykiim, were also present so that they could coordinate their fleet's plan of attack with the Federation starships. On the far side of the room a large, portable viewscreen had hastily been assembled so that the aquatics could also take part in the discussion.

She watched with more than a little amusement as Picard graciously poured her a cup of hot coffee from a pitcher setting on the table. He also placed a fresh pasty onto a plate for her and rose from his seat to respectfully set the snacks in front of her. Clearing his throat, the Captain reseated himself as Janeway took a sip of coffee. "Pay close attention everyone," she commented, smiling cheerfully at Picard. "What you have all just witnessed is just _one_ of the ways to score points with a senior officer." The room momentarily filled with a burst of laughter, effectively breaking the noticeable tension that had previously filled the room.

"Our objective is simple," Captain Picard began, making a visual survey of the expressions on the faces of the people sitting around him. "We must capture the enemy base in the DNX-920 system and it is absolutely _imperative _that we do so. Thus we are gathered here to come up with a suitable attack plan that will accomplish this mission and also minimize the loss of life on both sides."

"Have you given any further consideration to the option presented to us by our visitor from the 31st century – Daniels?" Riker wondered with more than a little interest.

Picard's answer was to reach into a small briefcase he had sitting on the table in front of him and extract three metal cylinders. "Section 31 has also _suggested_ that we destroy the star," he said with a look of complete revulsion. "And not only did their representative approach Dr. Bashir with trilithium to back up that offer but he also gave two of these cylinders to other Captains in our fleet." The Captain shook his head with utter disbelief. "Apparently, Section 31's idea of 'chain of command' is that if you can't convince fleet leadership of the validity of your argument, you try to influence other people to take matters into their own hands."

"Section 31 as it once was is no longer in business," promised Janeway, folding her arms confidently in front of her. "If they try to approach any of you, your orders are to report the incident to us immediately."

The work station on the table in front of Picard abruptly chimed for attention. "_Captain Picard, this is Counselor Troi calling from the bridge. I apologize for interrupting your meeting_…"

"Don't worry about it Deanna," replied the Captain. "I haven't exactly had time to address all of the items on my agenda, so let's take things one at a time… how is our guest doing?"

"_She's fine sir_," Troi replied. "_I've already filed my report on the incident. She's resting comfortably and has agreed to read the documentation that you've picked out for her. After our meeting concluded, I stopped by the bridge to check on ship's status and was just informed that we have an incoming transmission from Commander Hazelton on Deep Space Nine. He has it flagged as high priority, so I thought you'd want to know right away_."

"Please route the transmission to our viewscreen down here," Picard requested. "And have the tactical officer also transmit the message decryption sequence to the other ships in the fleet so that their commanders can decode the communiqué and listen in on the new information as well."

"_Connecting you to Deep Space Nine… now_," Deanna's voice confirmed.

The viewscreen fluctuated for a few seconds and then steadied into a recognizable image with an electronic chirp. Commander Hazelton stood near the center of the visual with a large white bandage covering the left side of his forehead and temple. He looked extremely fatigued as well and had obviously seen better days.

"What can I do for you Commander?" Picard asked.

"_I just wanted to let you know that whatever is happening inside the Dark Nebula has already begun to spread outside of it_," Hazelton said with obvious concern. "_I was attacked in my quarters last night by a Federation Ensign named Ronald Baker. Or at least… what our medical team has discovered_ used to be _Ensign Baker_."

"Please explain Commander," requested Janeway from her seat next to the Captain.

He took a deep breath and held up a data pad. "_I've read the report that Dr. Bashir sent to us regarding his study of the prisoner you have… and I think you'll find our other Doctor's analysis extremely enlightening_." He slowly turned to his right. "_Computer… please activate Deep Space Nine's EMH program_."

Beside him, a tall balding man with a slightly irritated expression on his face appeared seemingly out of thin air. "_Please state the nature of the medical emergency_," the holographic Doctor requested, glancing expectantly at the Commander.

Hazelton pointed at the viewscreen in front of him. "_I want you to give Admiral Janeway and Captain Picard the results of your analysis on Ensign Baker_," he requested. "_Tell them exactly what you told me earlier this morning_."

The _Enterprise_ crew and both Xindi representatives sitting around the conference table watched with interest as the holographic Doctor immediately perked up. "_I'd be happy to_," he said cheerfully, glancing into the visual pickup on his end of the transmission. "_Simply put… Ensign Baker is now a Guardian_," he stated ominously. "_The sentient personality that was in Ron Baker's mind when he stepped aboard this station has somehow been replaced with a new consciousness, one that very closely matches the brain patterns of the prisoner you're holding on the_ Defiant."

"_How_ did they get to him?" Dr. Crusher asked curiously, her attention suddenly riveted on the viewscreen. "We've been told that only human and Cardassian civilian citizens were abducted from the demilitarized zone. How did they get their hands on a Starfleet officer?"

"_The answer to that question is rather easy I'm afraid_," the Doctor decided from his position standing next to Hazelton. He held up the small device that had been found in the Commander's quarters earlier in the morning. "_They brought the Guardians to us_. _Ensign Baker was no doubt attacked at some unknown point in the recent past, probably by someone carrying one of these. It's a small storage device that contains an internal power source, a bio-compatible gel-pack similar to those used on Intrepid-Class starships, and undoubtedly the entire compressed consciousness of one of the Guardians_."

"An intriguing concept," Data noted. "The Breen and reptilians have undoubtedly constructed the portable units so that they do not have to bring victims all the way to their hidden base in the Dark Nebula in order to convert them. Such a method would allow them to begin at the bottom of a government's chain of command and slowly work their way up by converting people of lower rank first. Those people would then naturally have direct access to the people in higher positions of authority."

"_That is quite likely_," Commander Hazelton confirmed. "_Ensign Baker left his post during the night shift and very fortunately for me his absence was noticed. He had already disabled the security to my quarters and tried to attack me as I slept. If he had succeeded I would now undoubtedly also be an unwilling part of their growing spy ring_."

"They are already planning ahead for a large scale invasion," commented Worf with a huge frown. "Having a Guardian in command of Deep Space Nine would give the Breen direct control of the wormhole, and that means our enemies would effectively have complete access to three of the four quadrants in our galaxy."

Geordi glanced past the Klingon tactical officer and at the viewscreen beyond him with more than a little skepticism. "So you're telling us, Commander, that one of these 'Guardians' has trusted the Breen to store his or her entire consciousness in that tiny device?" Geordi looked around the table at the others with a look of concern. "How long could they effectively store a complete personality profile like that when it's reduced to mere data? Even when stored in a bio-compatible gel-pack, it wouldn't last forever…"

"_The Doctor here has told me that it's a pretty impressive form of technology_," Hazelton decided, taking the electrical unit from the Doctor and holding it up so that everyone could get a better look at it. "_We've theorized that as long as the internal power source in this unit continues to function, it is quite capable of sustaining the entire consciousness of at least one Guardian for years at a time. The only threats to the compressed data would be a sudden interruption of its power supply or damage to the gel-pack inside of it_." The Commander turned and nodded gratefully at the holographic Doctor. "_Computer, deactivate the EMH_," he said, watching the image next to him fade quickly away.

"They obviously succeeded in their effort to convert your Ensign and they also tried to get to you," observed Janeway. "It's the same kind of sinister attack on the Federation that the alien conspiracy was so many years ago. We've survived these attacks before and we will again," she said confidently before glancing at the Commander's image with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Isn't there anything you can do for Ensign Baker?"

"_I'm afraid not_," Hazelton concluded, shaking his head. "_His neural life sign patterns are almost a precise match with the data included in your report as submitted by Doctors Crusher and Bashir. He's a Guardian all right, and the Ron Baker we knew and trained at Starfleet Academy no longer exists. We've discovered evidence indicating his memories and all of his personal experiences are still present and stored within his brain, but the sentient personality that _was _Baker has been destroyed to make way for this new individual_. _Since Commander Tuvok has just returned from his mission in the demilitarized zone, I had him mind meld with the Ensign earlier this morning. I realize information obtained in this manner is not conclusive proof by any means in a court of law, but Tuvok has been able to positively confirm the hostile nature of the entity that now inhabits Baker's body. It will use his memories and experience to plot and kill us without hesitation in order to achieve its objectives. Additionally, Tuvok has detected residual memories passed along during the transfer process indicating that the being inside the Ensign's mind has switched bodies using this process before – at least three times_."

"That's absolutely barbaric," Riker said angrily. "Who knows how many races they've conquered in their own universe by using this revolting perversion of technology? If someone's sentience is reduced to a mere data stream, can emotions or personal values like morals and ethics even survive? This sounds to me like a very cruel, heartless way to conquer one civilization while terrorizing others."

"_You have no idea_," the Commander replied with a look of distaste. He pressed the back of the electronic device carefully and the two rectangles attached to the central one snapped outward to the left and the right into their normal, angled positions. A large needle also extended from the center of the unit. "_This has been designed to simulate a cortical stimulator, but the transfer process appears to occur much faster if the victim is awake and emotionally vulnerable. As you can see, this was built to not only keep a person conscious while the Guardian's personality is transferred into him but also to terrorize the victim. The needle injected a disorienting drug into my system to stimulate fear and keep my mind from focusing. All of this specifically designed into the device to minimize my ability to resist and speed the transfer_."

"So not only does that thing _kill_, but it also keeps the victim conscious and tortures him throughout the entire process," Picard said, also sounding more than a little outraged.

"_That's correct. Ensign Baker used a hypo spray to inject me with a common sedative. It wasn't a large dose, just enough to guarantee that he would prevail against any fight I put up long enough to slap this thing on my forehead. After that, he wanted me awake and in terror_."

"How many people have they done this to already?" Dr. Crusher wondered.

"_At this point we simply don't know_ _yet_," Hazelton said. "_But I thought I should warn you right away. We're passing the data from the analysis conducted by you and Dr. Bashir directly to Starfleet Command and to the Cardassian Union through Gul Mullis. We've already begun scanning everyone aboard Deep Space Nine for these brain patterns – they're as easy to identify as fingerprints once we know what to look for, but there are a lot of people on this station_." He paused and everyone could see his look of concern. "_What bothers me is that they can take these things _anywhere_ and use them on _anyone_ whose species is compatible – eventually we'll have a moral obligation to warn the Romulans, the Ferengi, maybe even the Gorn… along with anyone else whose government is a potential target of this invasion_."

"Thank you for your report Commander," Picard said gratefully, noticing the weary expression on Hazelton's face. The DS9 leader nodded with respect and the viewscreen immediately flickered and steadied on a new transmission from the aquatic-Xindi starship.

One of the underwater Xindi swimming in the background drifted gradually toward the visual pickup and raised one of its finned arms for emphasis. "_We must attack them now_," the underwater creature warned, "_Before they learn that we have discovered this part of their plan and begin transporting more of those devices outside of the Nebula. They are moving slowly right now to keep their secret as long as possible, but that will soon change_."

"I agree," Riker said. "We have to close that portal as quickly as possible and if there are any more of those devices – destroy them."

"But how do we _know_ they're not simply trying to survive?" Geordi asked. "This is the second attempt by the Guardians in two centuries to move into our galaxy. How do we make the determination that their home isn't suffering from some kind of environmental travesty that will eventually wipe them all out? They could be just trying to survive as a species."

"Starfleet has observed them carefully on both occasions," Data pointed out. "Refugees normally ask other governments for assistance. They do not generally try to covertly move large numbers of their people into foreign territory, and they most certainly do not try and take over the established governments they are seeking help from. That is called invasion."

Admiral Janeway glanced toward the _Enterprise_ Chief Engineer with an ironic smile. "We call ourselves explorers and try to discover and greet new races with an air of optimism," she observed. "But that doesn't mean we turn a blind eye toward the threat that some of the races we meet may represent. While my ship _Voyager _was stranded in the delta quadrant we met up with a gruesome species called the Vidiians." She frowned at the memories that suddenly flowed rapidly back through her mind. "They were a people who were legitimately suffering from a plague known as the _phage_. How they decided to combat this plague violated every moral and ethical guideline that our own medical people have followed for years. Other sentient life forms became simply 'spare parts' for them, and they regularly captured and harvested the organs of people from other races to replace those damaged by the disease eating away at their population. It was really quite disheartening to watch them sacrifice every moral principle in the book in an effort to keep their own people alive. To this day, it is one of the most selfish, revolting incidents that I personally have witnessed."

"That doesn't sound like the kind of people we would want to try and establish peaceful relations with," commented Riker.

"You see my point Commander," Janeway said with a grim smile. "The fact that the Federation traditionally wants to maintain peaceful relations with other races has historically worked against us as much as it has helped us. It means that we have to behave civilly toward other species even when they're not showing us that same courtesy. It's one of the basic principles of Starfleet and _why_ we are so patient – to give those who are used to everyone they meet being hostile or untrustworthy the chance to recognize that _we_ are not." She leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean we stand back and do nothing when someone threatens our people. As Section 31 is so fond of pointing out, we do have a right to protect the security of the Federation – they're simply more paranoid about it than the rest of us."

"I believe that a preemptive strike is necessary and justified under these circumstances," Data decided. "If we hesitate and provide the Guardians with the opportunity to gain a larger foothold in our galaxy, they will undoubtedly use the time to construct more trans-dimensional portals on other worlds so they can continue bringing their people over here. The portable unit that Commander Hazelton captured should properly be recognized as a clear warning sign that the invasion of our galaxy has already begun."

The Captain touched his Comm-badge without hesitation. "Picard to bridge."

"_Troi here_."

"Commander, please adjust course as necessary and proceed immediately to the Dark Nebula at warp seven," he instructed. "The commanders of the other ships are monitoring our briefing here and will also change course along with us. It is time to put this particular problem to rest, one way or another."

"_Acknowledged_," she replied curtly.

"Geordi did make a good point about storing an entire consciousness," Dr. Crusher decided. "The fabric of the mind is a very delicate thing – even using bio-technology I don't see how they could preserve the essence of emotion, the spirituality of each unique personality…"

"Based on their behavior so far, I don't see them taking the extra time to construct ethical subroutines like Data has either," Riker noted. "By now the personalities stored as raw data on those devices are probably mostly devoid of emotion, driven by whatever instincts have survived the transfer to a simple electronic storage device." He pointed to the three cylinders still sitting on the table in front of Picard. "I've known you for a long time Captain, and my educated guess based on my experience as your first officer is that destroying the star will _not_ be one of your options." He chuckled as the Captain reacted with surprise at the prediction.

Picard shifted in his seat and glanced at Admiral Janeway with a brief smile. "You know Number One," he said to Riker, "It has been my experience that the more some people become fixated on one particular solution to a problem, the more likely I am to believe that there must be other options available." He shook his head negatively. "If that star is destroyed at some point in the future, it will be due to the severe gravitational forces at work within the Nebula and most certainly _not_ due to actions taken by this fleet." He carefully picked up the trilithium and put the metal rods back into his briefcase. "I say we find another way."

"Agreed," said Janeway. "I have had several confrontations with time travelers from the future myself, and have discovered to my dismay that the timeline has been monitored by future Starfleet operations as early as the 29th century. In each case, unless they have physically _forced_ me to comply with their wishes I have never taken orders from them either. _We_ are here _now_ and it is our responsibility to make our own decisions based on the facts that we gather."

"What is our best strategy for attacking the Nebula?" Worf asked. "Do we try to plan ahead or simply confront the ships in their fleet and demand that they disengage?"

"From the reports that I've read since returning to the _Enterprise_, placing cloaked Klingon ships and soldiers in the demilitarized zone caught the Breen forces stationed there completely by surprise," commented Data. "Despite the fact that the Dark Nebula task force is using a tachyon detection grid, we may be able to take advantage of their newfound cautiousness by convincing them that the same thing is happening again."

"An interesting idea Data," decided Picard. "What do you have in mind?"

"If we were able to severely disrupt a major part of their network and render it ineffective, the enemy ships in the task force would have no choice but to abandon the grid altogether and attack our fleet. Otherwise they would run the risk of us slipping cloaked ships through the disabled portion of the network, while the visible ships in our fleet patiently waited until we had them caught in a crossfire. They will not want to risk making that same mistake again."

"But we _don't_ have a fleet of cloaked Klingon ships this time," Janeway pointed out. "Our objective will be to get the _Enterprise_ and several support ships through their perimeter so that we can attack the planet, and our fleet will very likely suffer casualties. Even if we are successful in taking out the ground to air defenses on the second planet in that system, we also will be taking a big chance by landing troops around that base. The Breen and the reptilians already have a large complement of their own soldiers in place and have had plenty of time to prepare them for our attack. Given what we've learned about their efforts there, they would have to know that an assault from Starfleet was inevitable."

"I did not say that this would be easy," Data pointed out.

"No, but you're on the right track Data," said Riker carefully. "The key to victory is to make certain that while there is mass chaos taking place on the Nebula's perimeter, we also find a way to make sure something similar occurs on the planet."

"Geordi and I could modify several of our photon torpedoes," Worf suggested. "We have carefully studied the sensor data regarding the layout of the enemy base and have noted that both the perimeter and central tower are protected by very powerful force fields. The only way to circumvent their defenses and significantly disrupt their ground operations would be to set up a cascade effect in the atmospheric radiation cloud they have created and then let the reaction follow the exhaust trail back down to the ground."

"That's a great idea Worf," LaForge decided. "Even if we set up a reasonably harmless reaction that simply neutralizes all of that radiation they're venting into outer space, it should cause enough unwanted feedback in their systems to take out their main computer when it reaches the ground. They have the underground reactor shielded pretty well, so there's no danger of a major explosion. They could restart their systems pretty quickly, but it would give us the distraction that we need."

"It's definitely a plus for our battle plan, but I still don't see that as causing the soldiers on the ground to lose their cool," Riker pointed out. "We want to send that camp into utter chaos, just like we did on the colonies back in the demilitarized zone."

"A disruption of that magnitude will be difficult to achieve without landing unseen forces there," Jommyn spoke up. "The Xindi ships in this fleet will fight right alongside yours, but we do not possess cloaking technology either. With your Klingon friends continuing to maintain order in the demilitarized zone, I don't see how we can successfully place friendly forces on the ground in the DNX-920 system without the Breen and reptilians detecting and attacking them as they arrive and disembark."

"_We have the honor during this mission to be led by the famous Admiral Janeway_," one of the aquatics on the viewscreen said unexpectedly. "_She has already pointed out to us the evil nature of the Vidiians during the time she and her crew spent in the delta quadrant. My people are very interested students of her journey and have noted that she inevitably ended up making enemies in that region… but not before finding a few allies as well. We would suggest to her that perhaps negotiations that she has held in the past could be useful to us in finding a solution to our current problem_." They watched the aquatic carefully, and as soon as the last of his words were translated he swam back away from the viewscreen in his ship's simulated oceanic environment and pulled up next to two of his underwater crew mates. All three of them cheerfully waved a webbed hand at the screen.

The Admiral sat quietly with a surprised expression on her face for a minute, quietly thinking over the aquatic's comment. "I'm not sure I see what you mean…" she said before an idea struck her and she suddenly began chuckling with growing confidence. Continuing to laugh, Janeway stood up with a big smile on her face. "Jean Luc, thanks for the coffee and the pastry. If you'll please excuse me, I need to use your ship's subspace transmitter." Without another word she hastily left the conference room.

"Everyone is welcome to submit additional ideas and options as you see fit," Picard decided as he watched the door slide shut behind the Admiral's trim figure. "Our fleet will not reach the Nebula for another six hours, and we will no doubt make several modifications before then to our battle plan. We all know what has to be done and the consequences that we're facing. There exists here the potential for a very large scale invasion of our galaxy, not to mention an attack on the center of the Federation government itself. I don't think I have to remind anyone that the Breen project must be terminated one way or another before this day is done. That is all, you are all dismissed." As his officers began filing out of the room Picard turned toward Jommyn and Pykiim. "This certainly can't be easy for you," he said sympathetically. "The reptilians are also a part of your Xindi race…"

"What they have chosen to do is pure evil," Pykiim stated flatly. "Your android officer speaks the truth – destroying other life forms for their own survival is simply not the act of a peaceful people. Thanks to Starfleet's brave men and women, all Xindi have known the truth about the Guardians and their hostile interests in our universe now for over two hundred years. The reptilians have voluntarily made their own choice _not _to accept the truth and that continues to be very disappointing to us." The arboreal shook his head disapprovingly with his full length of hair flopping awkwardly back and forth. "I just hope that someday we can find our insectoid brothers and reach out the hand of peace toward them. We still have absolutely no idea where they ended up traveling to."

"Our people will fight alongside yours," Jommyn repeated, right before he and Pykiim solemnly left the conference room to return to their ships.

* * *

Picard was still sitting alone in the conference room twenty minutes later when Janeway returned. He had several data pads setting on the table in front of him and was intently studying the data on each. "We could end up losing a lot of people on this mission if our plan goes wrong," he said with some anxiety. "We've already got a couple of aces up our sleeve, but I would certainly welcome another."

"I think you should return to your quarters and get a few hours of rest," the Admiral suggested. "I've just finished burning up your sub-space transmitter and can guarantee you at least one more of those aces."

"Really?" he said with obvious curiosity. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"Not quite yet," Janeway decided. "But rest assured, you will have the disruptive chaos that is needed on the ground phase of this second mission to save lives. After the battle, we'll also be welcoming a new Federation ally into our midst."

"Now you've definitely got my curiosity piqued. Just what are you planning Admiral?"

"Let's just say we're going to fight fire with fire and leave it at that for now." She leaned closer until her face was right in front of his. "Get some rest Jean Luc," she repeated. "You've been up for almost two days planning this. I'll handle the preparation of our security forces and make sure they're ready to land when we arrive at our destination. The Nebula is only hours away and _you_ need the sleep."

"Is that an order Admiral?" he asked with a weary smile.

"Yes," she insisted. "Make it so…"

He chuckled heartily at the unexpected accuracy of her impression of his most famous command phrase. "I hope you will permit me a few minutes to first stop by and say hello to an old friend," he said in all seriousness. "Tasha Yar is someone I never thought that I would ever see again." She nodded as she watched him rise to his feet and tuck the briefcase under one arm before leaving the conference room. Her mind awhirl with new possibilities, Janeway seated herself in his empty chair and started her own review of the data pads on the table.


	17. Disturbing The Peace

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter XVII: Disturbing The Peace

* * *

**

_Stardate 55425: 0444 hours _Enterprise_ time…_

After grabbing a quick lunch, Malib Covington entered his office on the first floor of the primary command complex in the Breen military base. There were now soldiers stationed next to each office, since it hadn't taken the people on the second planet of the DNX-920 system very long to verify the initial reports that the colonies in the demilitarized zone had been successfully recaptured by the Federation and the Cardassians. If an attack on the Dark Nebula wasn't already underway, Malib had no doubt in his mind that some sort of invasion was imminent.

He and his "wife" Bemuu had been the first two humanoids to undergo the Guardian consciousness transfer. The civilians they had been were long since dead after each of their minds had been replaced with the sentient personalities of two female Guardians. And although gender had long ago ceased to matter for many of his people, their home in the trans-dimensional realm was still inhabited by both males and females. The males, however, were historically part of a lower ranking class and had virtually no personal rights. The females had always been dominant, and everywhere they had expanded their influence this trend remained unchanged.

Bemuu was one of the few whose new persona had decided to remain female and chosen Malib's "wife" for her host body. Early in their experimentation, the reptilians had selected the strongest and fittest human and Cardassian males from their group of prisoners for the first stage of transfers. Most of the earliest conversions had placed female Guardian personalities in the bodies that they had specifically selected as youngest, strongest and most fit.

Deep in thought, Malib sat down in his chair and began reviewing the latest status reports as he/she struggled to decide how best to defend the Nebula entrance against a massive attack. Truthfully the creature inhabiting the humanoid body was still adapting to this new universe. His female consciousness was simply not properly skilled in tactical strategy nor had it expected such a quick response from their enemies. Most civilizations they had attacked in this manner already had enough of their own problems to deal with, and the weakened, post-war state of the beleaguered alpha quadrant had left the Guardians expecting only diplomacy and delay.

The Breen and reptilians had been purposefully secretive during the early stages of their initial contact with the Guardians. They had diligently collaborated via subspace communication back and forth at first, until the Breen recognized the opportunity available to them in the aftermath of the alpha quadrant war. Seizing the leftover Dominion resources had proven an easy task, and – using detailed specifications provided by the Guardians – they had constructed a base within the Dark Nebula designed to generate a much larger portal and allow the alien entities complete access to the alpha quadrant.

It had taken a lot of difficult work, but the base had eventually become fully operational and they had managed to carve a temporary opening through subspace at the very base of the central tower. The energy portal was now large enough to contain more than one person at a time, and those prisoners that the Breen had forced at gunpoint to walk through the opening had come back moments later as an entirely new life form. The procedure had become regular these past few months, and quite a few of the human and Cardassian prisoners had already undergone the transformation. There were still many waiting their turn, but things had proceeded very slowly at first as the Guardians studied each person's background very carefully to determine which of them were most valuable as enemy agents.

With the industrial replicators also in their possession along with a limitless energy supply to power them, it also hadn't taken very long to begin constructing portable versions of the transfer devices that the Guardians had used for some of their conquests on other worlds… and in other dimensions. Their influence had expanded very rapidly, and although some in their home realm were worried that they were spreading themselves too thin Malib had never felt this way. They weren't moving nearly as quickly as they could for a reason – the personalities of his people were perfectly preserved on the portable devices and thus available for use at any time. Keeping their migration out of the Nebula a secret for as long as possible would allow them to seize control of many governments simultaneously. Before anyone even suspected, their plan was to install themselves as a new power to be reckoned with in this galaxy.

Ambition and greed had corrupted them long ago. Malib's female personality was one of the most experienced of the Guardians, and that was why very early on in the first stage of their project _he had used the portal and his people coming through to covertly take complete command of the base_. Most of the Breen and reptilian-Xindi did not even suspect as of yet, but the _entire_ command staff of both species had already been drugged while they were sleeping and then secretly converted into trans-dimensional Guardians. Each day the soldiers watched their leaders walk around the base speaking and acting normally, and although everything appeared unchanged it most certainly was not. The base command personnel were quite simply no longer Breen or Xindi, but invading Guardians from the other side of the portal who now possessed full decision-making authority over the entire project.

The troop commanders and ship Captains Malib had decided to leave alone for now, since it took some time for the transferred personalities of his people to fully adapt to their new bodies. Integrating with the memories and life experiences stored in each brain took awhile, not to mention a great deal of focus and concentration. That was why he left most of the lower ranking military commanders alone, since the Guardians needed the bulk of their "allies" ready to fight and die – if necessary – to protect their newly "appointed" leaders.

A few of the scientists on the base had immediately suspected this new wrinkle, and two of the Breen had even figured things out for themselves and actually uncovered the true identity of the alien beings that now inhabited their leaders. Those that had made the discovery immediately had pointed accusing fingers at those in charge and tried to warn the others. To counter the charges, the Guardians had simply shaken their heads with disbelief and used the knowledge and experience of the bodies that they inhabited to perfectly mimic the Breen and reptilian commanders. The "over-worked" subordinates were subsequently ordered to undergo medical treatment and then were discreetly converted into Guardians as well. After the public accusations had been verbally revoked by the two scientists – who quietly returned to their old jobs and resumed a normal working routine – things had rapidly quieted back down to normal.

Completely focused on their latest objective, the invaders had mistakenly assumed that the Federation would continue to drag its feet rather than take action in the demilitarized zone. Malib and Bemuu were hurriedly working on a way to _permanently_ open the doorway between this universe and their other-worldly home. With enough energy from the combined output of the six power plants focused on a single point in subspace at the bottom of the tower, both of them were convinced that they could easily tear a stable opening between their home realm and the Dark Nebula. That was the logical and necessary next step to accelerating their invasion of this galaxy, particularly with the added threat of a military strike.

In the event that the Federation actually set aside its normal route of diplomacy a second time, a direct attack on the base could easily destroy most of their equipment and possibly even the entire planet. Just in case Starfleet demonstrated the same aggressive tactical prowess that they had successfully wielded in the demilitarized zone, Malib was more determined than ever to insure that a permanent passageway was torn between both universes for long-term use by their people – even if it was via space craft. The groundwork had been laid for a full scale invasion, and even if they had to bring their people across to this side stored in the portable containers a ship at a time they were fully prepared to continue spreading their conquering web of treachery across the Milky Way galaxy and its unsuspecting inhabitants.

Frustrated, Malib reviewed the previous day's status reports and noted that they had not heard back from either Ensign Baker or Commander Hazelton on Deep Space Nine. The fact that neither man had checked in with their proper contact person on the faraway station was yet another clear indicator that Starfleet was on to them. If Ensign Baker had been unable to complete his mission he would have let them know. The fact that neither he nor Hazelton had been heard from was an obvious indicator to him that the Ensign had tried to convert his commander to a Guardian as scheduled and that the attempt had been unsuccessful.

Rising to his feet Malib walked across the room and out into the large corridor beyond. He signaled the Breen nearest to him and the officer immediately saluted and then approached. The other three guards continued to stand watch in front of the other offices that also contained busily working scientists. "Please have Bemuu stop by to check in with me as soon as her schedule permits," Malib told the Breen soldier. "Tell her I have new computations that will almost certainly allow us to resolve yesterday's setback." The guard nodded in response as he headed off past his three companions and out toward the wide, open area of the base and into the bright afternoon sunlight.

* * *

_Stardate 55425: 0501 hours _Enterprise_ time…_

According to their preset plan, promptly the next morning both Picard and Janeway stepped out of the bridge turbolift and joined the on duty shift. The Admiral moved immediately to stand next to Worf at tactical, watching the Captain walk to the center of the starship's command center and calmly sit down in the center seat. Everyone was back at their normal stations – both Data and Riker were present, and even Geordi had transferred main engineering functions to the bridge so that he could monitor the ship's status readouts throughout their impending attack.

"Status report Mr. Worf," the Captain requested briskly.

"The _Enterprise_ fleet is continuing on course toward the Dark Nebula at warp seven," replied the Klingon. "Our expected arrival time is six minutes, and all ships have signaled that they are ready. Sensors have detected fifty enemy starships comprising a blockade around the Nebula. Sixteen of the enemy vessels are the smaller reptilian class and the remaining thirty-four are larger Breen battle cruisers. Their tachyon detection grid is active and functioning."

Riker thoughtfully stroked his clean-shaven chin. "We have twenty-three Federation vessels including the _Defiant_. Our Xindi allies, along with the aquatic cruiser, add nineteen more to our attacking fleet for a total of forty-two coalition ships."

"Mr. LaForge?" Picard prompted.

"The modified photons are ready and standing by. They can be loaded into the forward tubes as soon as we are in range of the planet's atmosphere. I also double-checked the shield grid enhancements completed by the engineering staff during my absence – everything is online and my console reads green across the board. We're ready when you are Captain."

"Bring the fleet to red alert Mr. Worf," ordered Picard. As Worf complied the bridge lights around them dimmed and all consoles began flashing the familiar red warning lights normally active during a battle alert. The Captain activated a temporary work station attached to the right arm of his seat and a duplicate of Worf's tactical display appeared on its screen.

Janeway handed Worf one of the transporter signal-enhancing armbands that he had used the last time he was in the Dark Nebula and tossed two more of the devices to Commander Riker and Data. "You three are leading the planet-side strike team," she decided firmly. "Word has it that the reptilians have greater than average strength, so we need all the big strong men we can find. Be certain that no one loses their pattern enhancer, since the armbands will be serving a dual purpose on this mission. We plan to disable the transporter inhibitors on the planet's surface from orbit, but if they should somehow be reactivated then these devices will be our only way of pulling our people out of there. We also plan to have allies on the ground and each of the armbands has been programmed to emit a unique signal that will identify you to them as friendly. It is imperative that you keep these with you, since many of the other humanoids on the surface will quite probably be Guardians."

"An ally? Who?" Worf looked at her with extreme curiosity and a bit of admiration.

"Need to know basis Commander," the Admiral told him curtly as she dismissed the Ensign standing next to him. The woman nodded and quietly moved to the second tactical station on the other side of the bridge. "Speaking of which, I need access to the ship's long range subspace transmitter again so that I can let our friends know we're in position." She stepped in beside him and began tapping commands into the tactical command center.

"We did not know until all ships completed an internal scan whether or not additional undercover Guardians were aboard our fleet," Picard informed them. "Therefore the Admiral and I are making last minute changes in our orders to both you and the _Enterprise_ security complement. When we reach the planet your teams are to beam to the surface and engage the Breen and the reptilians. You may also attack any humanoid or Cardassian civilians that your tricorders positively identify as Guardians. Ignore anyone else you encounter, _regardless of how strangely they may appear to you_. What you see will be somewhat unsettling, but as long as all our security forces wear the modified pattern enhancers they will _not_ be harmed."

"Are you certain that you can spare most of your senior officers?" Riker asked with interest as he attached the armband to his right shoulder and activated it. "The reptilian vessels may be smaller and less powerful than their Breen counterparts, but they're still a threat and together with their Breen friends that enemy fleet outnumbers us."

"We're not as outnumbered as it appears we are," said Janeway simply. "We'll be fine Commander… follow your orders." She activated the subspace communicator and nodded at Worf. "You concentrate on tactical strategy and weapons during the attack. I'll monitor fleet communications – those that are possible, that is, with all the radiation in there."

"Aye Admiral," he replied with a confident grin.

The bridge was silent for a few minutes longer as everyone focused on the specific tasks of the moment. Picard closely watched the enemy ships on his tactical console, observing them to determine whether they would choose to reposition themselves or stand firm and maintain their detection network. "So far they're waiting to see what we will do," he noted, glancing back at Janeway. "The Federation traditionally hails its enemies first during a confrontation and will fire on them only after all other alternatives have been exhausted."

"Not this time," the Admiral decided firmly. "Their history of obeying instructions and treaty promises is not a positive one." The console in front of her flashed in warning. "Mr. LaForge, please amplify our subspace emitter to match the configuration I'm uploading to your station." She watched him raise an eyebrow in surprise at the new information as he reviewed it.

"You're digging pretty deeply into subspace there, Admiral."

"I realize that," she said confidently. This is a very special message… I want to make certain our friends know that it's time for them to proceed. We also need to provide them with a beacon so that they can follow it here to our position."

"The fleet has _reached_ the Dark Nebula," announced Worf suddenly. "All ships are dropping out of warp and moving into our pre-planned attack formation. So far the enemy vessels are holding position – they are maintaining their blockade around the nebula's entrance."

"That tachyon network of theirs is a nice piece of work," Geordi commented, watching his own sensor display. "Anyone who tries to go around it has no choice but to try and move through the Nebula's most severely disrupted areas in order to successfully approach DNX-920. It wouldn't be an easy trip through all that invisible matter and gravity, even with a fully shielded starship around you."

As LaForge spoke the Xindi ships in the coalition fleet began dropping back to let the Federation starships take the lead. Moving smoothly into their predetermined attack posture, all forty-two vessels rocketed toward the perimeter of the Dark Nebula at high impulse. Riker and Data were both carefully observing the dark, starless patch of the approaching void grow rapidly larger on the forward viewscreen. Behind them, the Captain noted their position and smiled.

"Admiral Janeway," Picard said with total confidence. "Let's see how much of that network we can disable. Contact all Federation starships and have them begin firing their antimatter spread."

* * *

_Stardate 55425: 0508 hours _Enterprise_ time…_

Malib and Bemuu were busily discussing the new computations for creating a rupture between their home realm and the alpha quadrant when every alarm klaxon in the base camp went off simultaneously. Both of them glanced out through his office window and noticed a squadron of burly reptilian soldiers rushing out of the nearest barracks with weapons drawn. Gritting his teeth with anger, Malib hastily moved out into the corridor and down to the office where the main computer for the planet-based sensor array was located. Bemuu shook her own head with frustration and closely followed him.

"What's going on?" he asked the Breen soldiers in the room. One of them stood up and saluted him proudly.

"_The Federation is here. We have detected a total of forty-two starships dropping out of warp. Our equipment continues to generate massive clouds of disruptive radiation that drift randomly throughout the Nebula. They used one of the larger clouds along the outer perimeter to hide their approach from our blockade until moments ago._"

"Your inept colleagues out there _never_ should have let that shuttle get away," Malib said as he scowled at the soldier. "They have a complete sensor record of the Nebula, this system and our entire base camp." A thought occurred to him. "Have they presented any demands yet?"

"_No," _the Breen replied, obviously quite intimidated by the Guardian's criticism. "_The Starfleet vessels have spread out around the central area of the tachyon network and are firing some sort of antimatter particle spread into it. The combined random detonation of all those tiny bits of antimatter has completely disrupted at least 70 percent of the network._"

"If they have a cloaked fleet with them, they can send it through and we'll never detect them," Bemuu pointed out to him with growing apprehension. "Without the tachyon network they can use their ships to move soldiers into position and then beam them to the surface."

Malib thought things over for a moment. "Not with our planetary deflector shield in place they can't. So… they don't want to talk this time," he mused thoughtfully. "Have the fleet commander dissolve the network and attack the enemy ships. Tell him to target them one on one – the extra ships in our fleet are to stand by and assist as needed, making certain they're ready to fire on any additional ships that decloak."

"_Not all of the enemy ships are Starfleet,_" the Breen pointed out. "_Some of them appear to be Xindi – specifically the races known to be allied with the Federation._"

"Then they will die today too," Bemuu said furiously. "Target the Starfleet ships first – they'll have the most firepower and..."

Her statement was interrupted by the sound of disruptor fire from right outside the building. Both Malib and Bemuu looked at each other, both wondering just how the Federation had managed to land soldiers on the surface of the planet so quickly. A moment later, additional loud shouts and the sounds of fighting could be heard breaking out all throughout the camp.

"Come with me," Malib said, grabbing Bemuu's arm and pulling her with him toward the door. Glancing back over his shoulder he gave the Breen sensor officer a cold stare. "Tell the fleet commander that their soldiers are ordered to fight to the death – he is to destroy _all_ enemy starships or the people on your home world will suffer the consequences."

"_Yes sir,_" the Breen replied, his raging fear not completely obvious through the lighted helmet he wore. He turned his attention back to his work, but not before saying something electronically garbled to his two companions. Both of them nodded in complete agreement.

* * *

Malib opened the outer door to the office building and glanced quickly outside. Since he and Bemuu worked in a camp full of soldiers he was unarmed and would not have known how to work one of the Breen rifles if he had one. Anxiously he glanced to the left first and then right. Both he and Bemuu were both astonished to see dozens of the sturdy reptilians and Breen soldiers already lying on the ground either injured or unconscious. The sound of friendly weapons fire continued to add to the sounds of yelling and fighting throughout the camp. Using his new human mind, Malib tried very hard for a moment to imagine what kind of force could disable so many of their soldiers so quickly. Thus far he had not heard anything that even remotely sounded like enemy weapons fire. 

One of the reptilians stationed on the roof literally dropped out of the sky and fell to the ground several dozen meters in front of the building. From the top of the office complex a huge gray creature jumped to the ground below and landed easily in the soft dirt, its powerful body well over two meters tall. It had mottled skin, two thin arms, two thin legs, and a wide forehead that rolled up over the top of its skull and then backward into an expanding protective shield. As Malib felt a burst of terror surge through his human body the creature turned and studied him carefully. Its nose and mouth were in the normal position on a very thin face below two glowering green eyes, but that was where its similarity to humanoids ended. To date, it was undeniably the most alien thing he had observed while in the alpha quadrant.

Another reptilian moved in behind the beast and fired several energy blasts directly into its torso. The creature completely shrugged off the attack, then whirled about and charged the reptilian before he could react. With ease it backhanded the soldier and sent him flying one way, his rifle another. As Malib and Bemuu watched carefully they could see more of the creatures running wild throughout the base. Some of them were on top of the troop barracks while others charged boldly across the open areas between buildings, ignoring the weapons fire that struck their dense, tough-skinned hides. The human Guardians even observed some of the invaders easily climbing along the surface of the six domed structures, trying to move into higher positions so that they could observe the action unfolding on the ground more clearly.

As the two Guardians continued to stand by helplessly watching the melee unfolding before them, dozens of additional Breen, reptilians, humans, and Cardassians began streaming out of one of the buildings across from them. In hot pursuit, more of the creatures quickly followed while a few of them simply jumped through the concrete walls or shattered heavy duty windows in a spray of broken glass. Malib and Bemuu watched with complete shock as the aliens quickly attacked and disarmed all of the soldiers, then began smashing their bodies together or tossing them against the side of the building. The shouts and disruptor fire that had signaled the start of the chaos on the ground were swiftly transitioning into groaning and cries of pain.

"Did you notice?" Bemuu whispered softly to Malib, pointing toward the semi-conscious soldiers scattered in front of the other building. Within the short span of two minutes all of them had been disarmed and disabled, at which point the group of aliens immediately took off toward another building in search of additional troops to attack. Left standing were the civilians, all looking extremely puzzled and more than a little bit shocked at the hectic scene that continued to unfold rapidly in front of them.

"Whatever they are, they're obviously intelligent beings. None of those things is attacking the humans _or_ the Cardassians," Malib guessed, catching on to what his companion was hinting at. "They're obviously smart enough to distinguish between the various species on this planet, but they _can't_ detect which of the humans and Cardassians have been converted to Guardians and which of them remain our prisoners."

"So their job is obviously to disarm our ground forces and soften us up for the Federation's attack," Bemuu said with triumph. "However those aliens traveled here, the Starfleet ships are still busy fighting our fleet at the entrance to the Dark Nebula. If we hurry, we may still have the time we need to carve that permanent doorway into subspace and connect our realm to this one. If our new set of calculations is correct, the Federation cannot possibly fight their way through our defenses and reach us in time. Despite the probable success of their attack on this base we can still make certain that they fail to stop our invasion of their galaxy." Cautiously at first and then more confidently, the two of them stepped out into the open and began running toward the central tower. As expected, the creatures left them alone.

Both Guardians paused at the base of the huge spire and took a moment to stare in awe at what was left of their armed forces. Most of the soldiers were either nursing broken limbs or motionless, and their weapons were also missing – obviously confiscated. Malib and Bemuu quickly exchanged a fierce look of determination and entered the huge circular control center upon which the upper tower rested. There were still Breen scientists working at some of the computer stations and Bemuu quickly ordered them to leave. Up until now the creatures had left the tower alone and she didn't want to risk them coming in after the Breen and damaging any of the equipment before she and her husband could complete their latest task.

In the center of the chamber was a massive, raised pedestal encircled by a vast array of force field generators and subspace emitters. Output from all six Dominion power plants was regularly transferred to the force field generators to keep them active and the energy barriers they created fully encompassing the excess radiation from the subspace reaction trapped inside. At the top of the pedestal was a fluctuating, multi-colored spherical portal reaching directly into trans-dimensional space. Periodically some of the force fields would sweep through the subspace rupture from its bottom all the way to the top, effectively pushing the bursts of brilliant, excess red radiation within it into a containment chamber above. Once enough of the toxic waste accumulated, the build up in tower radioactivity automatically triggered the venting process that followed a particle beam up through the planet's atmosphere and out into space.

Malib admired the portal each time he saw it. Although it was only a temporary doorway to the trans-dimensional realm it was an extremely sophisticated creation. Most of the time the equipment was working steadily to keep the portal open and stable, but for short periods they could shut down the subspace generators along with several of the force fields and simply walk inside. The phenomenon was large enough to hold half a dozen adults at a time and that was how a great many of the personality transfers on the planet had taken place. Prisoners were forced to walk inside at gunpoint where the Guardians could meet them and take control of their bodies, effectively ending their lives in a matter of seconds. The portable transfer devices were a bonus created from other-realm technology and would allow them to easily spread their influence here in the alpha quadrant much more rapidly.

Every fifteen minutes or so, the stability of the portal would begin to decay and everyone would fall back to a safer position. The force fields would reactivate as the subspace emitters powered up again to effectively begin reshaping and stabilizing the opening for another use. Each time this process took place it created additional waste radiation that was immediately swept via force field higher into the tower where it was continually routed up and out of the planet's atmosphere. By environmental standards, the procedure was a travesty but for the purpose of conquest it was serving quite well thus far. More Guardians stood safely in the alpha quadrant and were able to tolerate the virtually radiation free environment than ever before.

Malib and Bemuu took control of the main computer and both sat down at work stations, inputting commands as quickly as their human fingers were capable of. Both of them knew that they didn't have much time, and each was convinced that they could tear a stable doorway between universes with their newest calculations. Everything had to be perfect, though, because when they were finished both sides of the tunnel between realms would have to end at the same locations the temporary one had. Otherwise it would be virtually impossible to locate in the vastness of empty outer space that dominated both universes.

"How long?" Bemuu asked him as Malib furiously continued working.

"Relax. There's no way that Starfleet can get here in time," he replied confidently.

* * *

_Stardate 55425: 0517 hours _Enterprise_ time…_

The _Enterprise_ lurched to starboard as a near torpedo miss caused their hull to rumble. Picard watched the bridge crew expertly hold on to their seats and continued to periodically check his tactical display. All of the enemy ships had abandoned their previous positions and were now taking up a defensive posture in front of the Nebula entrance. Anyone from the coalition who got too close was fired upon – the Breen were laying down the gauntlet and daring Starfleet to try and make it through their concentrated weapons fire. It was quite probable that some of the starships would survive a combined charge on the entrance, but the enemy was fully prepared to make the Federation pay a heavy price for getting inside.

"The tachyon network has collapsed," Worf reported with satisfaction. "And the massive amounts of radioactive disruption circling the nebula entrance combined with the after effects of our antimatter spread have rendered all long range sensors temporarily useless. Short range scans are still available at your command."

"Mr. LaForge, what is the status of our shield grid enhancements?"

"We're ready when you are, Captain."

Picard's eyes found the viewscreen. "Then let's make the _Enterprise_ their primary target and take some heat off the rest of the fleet. _Deploy armor_."

Geordi nodded and quickly routed most of the output from the ship's warp core into the recently installed industrial replicators that were now on board. The output of each was linked directly to a series of emitter ports along the entire surface of the starship's outer hull. As the warp power surged into the new system the emitters immediately began replicating row after row of protective ablative hull plating in a perfectly pre-designed sequence. Even the glow from the vessel's warp nacelles was completely enclosed within the protective dark gray armor. Within ten seconds later the _Enterprise_ was a dark, fully shielded dreadnought plowing relentlessly forward and directly into the heaviest concentration of enemy fire.

"It will take a second or two longer each time we fire our weapons with the enhanced shielding in place," Riker pointed out. "The main computer pinpoints where our shots will emerge and dissolves a temporary gap in the armor to let the phasers and torpedoes out. Worf and the rest of his team have practiced on the simulators and they're already quite good at this form of combat."

"My compliments to you, Number One, for organizing the project and making sure that Geordi's engineering team had everything they needed before leaving on your shuttle mission," Picard told him. He watched the tactical display as he spoke and his expression suddenly hardened. "Transfer command of the fleet to the aquatic vessel," the Captain ordered. "Mr. Data, please take the _Enterprise_ as quickly as possible to the DNX-920 system."

"Aye sir," acknowledged Data.

"The aquatics have command of the fleet," Janeway reported, continuing to monitor the local subspace communications. She reviewed the latest batch of intra-fleet messages and then did a hasty double-check of the short range sensor readout. Worf noticed the data on the approaching newcomers at the same time she did.

"Ten Breen starships that were blockading the Nebula entrance have broken off their attack on the fleet and are pursuing us," he noted. As he spoke the ship rumbled from multiple torpedo impacts. "So far our ablative armor is holding at 98 percent. Their weapons fire is ineffective."

"Fire as targets bear Commander," Picard ordered. "Shoot to disable only."

The Klingon nodded as Data unexpectedly spun the _Enterprise_ completely around 180 degrees. The starship fired four quantum torpedoes into the closest Breen vessel, causing it to waver unsteadily from the all-out attack. The _Enterprise_'s phasers blazed forth an instant later, lancing directly through the enemy ship's weakened shielding and piercing its hull. A large internal explosion rocked the starship and it had no choice but to fall back and let the other nine attackers take its place.

Completely ignoring the intense incoming weapons fire from the enemy vessels, Worf continued targeting the ships in the smaller Breen fleet one at a time. For a few moments longer, quantum torpedoes repeatedly flashed onto the viewscreen as fast as the _Enterprise _crew could load them. All of the forward phaser banks continued spraying hot beams of directed energy into the weakening shields of their unprepared enemy.

"Armor integrity is at 87 percent," Worf confirmed. "Their weapons are still ineffective, but the remaining five Breen vessels are now concentrating their attack on our nacelles and the struts connecting them to the secondary hull. If they damage any of these targets we may lose warp power and much of our defensive capability."

Picard raised a hand in warning. "Let them close in on us a little longer," he suggested with his eyes on the tactical monitor. "We want their shields to take the full impact of our next exchange." He continued to watch the five ships close to point blank range on his tactical display. As they continued to move in and coordinate their attack on the _Enterprise_'s nacelles Picard brought his hand down. "Now!" he said suddenly.

"Signaling our backup," Janeway replied efficiently as she continued to assist Worf at tactical. It was almost an impossible job trying to monitor all of the distorted and unreliable local communications between ships while in the Nebula. Therefore the Admiral continued to focus her attention primarily on the subspace traffic so that Worf could concentrate fully on the enemy targets around them.

Hastily she transmitted the emergency signal, and almost immediately the _Defiant_ dropped out of cloak directly behind the Breen and promptly began a phaser and quantum torpedo attack of its own. Two more of the enemy starships had no choice but to fall out of the battle and the _Enterprise _promptly disposed of two more. The remaining Breen vessel hesitated while its Captain made up his mind. Suddenly the remaining enemy ship turned around and rocketed back out of the Nebula toward the other ships in its fleet.

"Now is our chance Jean Luc," the Admiral told him. "There's so much radiation in here that their friends out there would never receive a call for help during battle conditions. They're leaving to go and get more ships."

"Mr. Data, resume course for the second planet of the DNX-920 system. Use the preset trajectory through the gravity wells that Geordi planned out using the shuttle telemetry."

"Acknowledged," the android confirmed.

"Mr. LaForge, please drop our armored shielding and redeploy it." The Captain watched carefully as Geordi quickly complied with the order – using the replicators to convert the ablative hull plating back into energy and then powering up the warp drive to reassemble it completely intact just as quickly.

"Armor integrity has been restored to 100 percent," the engineer reported.

As he spoke Janeway smiled with confidence. "I have just received confirmation from our Species 8472 friends. They're on the ground and have already disarmed most of the enemy soldiers," she said with delight. "Most of the base camp is unguarded and they're awaiting our arrival. Since they're already here, I'm also going to request that they help us put a stop to the fighting back at the entrance to the Nebula."

Again she activated the subspace radio and almost immediately two bio-ships from fluidic space flashed into view in front of them. The newcomers had a slender but odd triangular look to them and each also boasted three large tail fins. Moving at high speed, they flashed past the _Enterprise_ and headed toward the nebula perimeter in search of the enemy targets Janeway had given them.

"It's still somewhat difficult for me to believe they're here and willing to help us," Picard decided, watching the image of the two ships move quickly away from them on the forward viewscreen. "Your initial encounter with them was far from a friendly one."

"Ah, but we ran into them again and reached a tentative truce before _Voyager_ left the delta quadrant," noted Janeway. "And when I spoke to them last night, I gave them a status report as to just how badly we've crippled the Borg's ability to attack anyone in the future. After hearing that, they jumped at the chance to render assistance to us and I personally think the idea of them helping is quite logical. If the Breen and the reptilians can call on allies from other dimensional realms, then it's only fair that we do also." She smiled as the early reports flowing across her screen indicated overwhelming success. "Against the kind of firepower those bio-ships have at their disposal, the enemy fleet will have no choice but to stand down."

"Two minutes to target," Worf stated. "So far, I am not detecting any additional ships pursuing us. The _Defiant_ has recloaked and will lie in wait in case they are needed again."

No longer forced to fight a major battle with so many enemy ships at once, the _Enterprise_ steered directly toward the growing star in front of them at rapid impulse speed. Their velocity was a heady and rapid .9c, just short of warp one.

"The special photons have been armed and loaded into the forward torpedo tubes," reported LaForge. "The neutralization reaction they create should follow the radiation back to its strongest point, hopefully directly down to the tower where it will force an overload. The people running those systems will have no choice but to shut them down – if they don't, the damage to all that sensitive equipment they're using will be enormous."

"Stand by," the Captain said patiently as they all watched the forward viewscreen. The twisting scarlet ribbons of radiation scattered throughout the region continued to cast a very sinister appearance across the darker background of the void, an obvious testament to the danger within. The closer they traveled to the DNX-920 star the brighter the visible radiation became. As he personally observed the odd patterns of gravitationally disrupted energy spiraling outward from the planet in all directions, Picard simply shook his head in complete disbelief. "My what a friendly place this is," he said with true dismay. "I guess this proves the old adage that idle hands _are _the devil's playground after all."

They patiently waited as the _Enterprise_ continued to close in on its target. Geordi was watching the radiation streams carefully and he pointed toward the origin point on the planet's surface. "Obviously the waste energy is strongest at the source," he informed them. "If our torpedoes hit the waste stream anywhere inside the atmosphere we should achieve the desired result. Since we're simply neutralizing the radioactivity and converting it into harmless energy, the impact on the planet's environment itself will be minimal."

The Captain turned to watch Worf with a look of complete mischief in his eye. "Let's put a damper on this little secret project of theirs. Commander, you may fire when ready."

"Photons away," the Klingon tactical officer reported with a satisfied look of his own.

"Target hit…" Geordi watched the short range scan carefully. "Captain, the neutralization sequence has begun and is following the radiation stream back down toward the central tower."

Picard rose from his seat as Counselor Troi stepped out of the turbolift behind Worf with a replacement shift of personnel standing right behind her. "I think it's time we paid those people down there a visit."

"_We_?" Riker said with some surprise.

"That's right," Janeway told him as she handed Picard an electronic armband and clipped one to her own shoulder. "Jean Luc and I are joining your ground team."

"You have the bridge Commander Troi," the Captain told her right before he, Janeway, Data, Riker and Worf stepped into the turbolift. "Your orders are to take out this planet's defensive systems. Begin with continuous phaser barrages on their shielding. Make them choose whether they want to keep that radiation contained or prevent us from beaming in. Once their shields are down and we've determined that it is safe to proceed, our strike teams will transport directly into the base. I want you to completely destroy five of those six power plants. That will insure that they have only enough energy to keep their tower protected."

"Be careful Captain," warned Deanna as she took over Worf's position at tactical. "I sense nothing but rage and hatred from the Guardians down there… I don't believe there's much humanity left in them." The turbolift doors behind her snapped closed as the replacement crew members moved to their assigned stations and began attending to their duties.

* * *

_Stardate 55425: 0535 hours _Enterprise_ time…_

Malib continued working furiously at one of the computer work stations in the control center at the bottom of the huge tower. He was driven by pure fear now, since the entire base had fallen suddenly silent. Even the alarm klaxons had shut off, since everyone by now had obviously been alerted to the fact that a major attack was underway. Across from him, he could see that Bemuu was also busy at another work station next to one of the outer windows. "What's going on out there?" he asked her with extreme curiosity.

Glaring at him she paused long enough to peek out the window. "Those _things_ are still out there, gathered together in small groups." A look of amazement crossed her face. "It looks like they're talking to each other… discussing what to do next!"

"I'm almost done here," Malib said fervently, continuing to work with their new set of computations stored in their central computer. "The first two simulations average a 98.73 percent probability of success. I'm willing to risk it if you are."

Again she cast an angry glance his way. "We don't have a choice and you know it," she said acidly. "If those things out there also have spacecraft with them then I think we're in imminent danger of getting shut down for good."

As she spoke the tower around them trembled slightly. Above them they could hear a faint rumble, distant at first but growing louder and sounding more severe with each passing second. Within the space of thirty seconds the sound became loud enough to interfere with normal conversation. The neutralization process initiated by the photon torpedo bursts roared down toward them at high speed.

"What the hell is going on now?" Malib asked with frustration, glancing up at the skeletal metallic super-structure above him. As he finished his sentence a fierce downdraft of hot air blew into the bottom of the tower and all of the computer work stations seemed to explode at once. Bemuu screamed in agony and fell to the floor as a burst of orange flame flickered briefly across the monitor she had been standing in front of. Around them, hot white electrical smoke poured into the air and Malib felt a stab of terror in his chest as the distinctive sound of the subspace emitters shutting down filled the room.

"_No_!" he screamed, smashing his fists down on the darkened work station in front of him. "We're so close – they simply _can't_ stop us now!"

With renewed determination, he whirled and ran down the line of work stations until he found one that still retained power. He coughed from the heavy smoke filling the air, then snarled with rage and began pounding commands insistently into the console until it responded and came back on-line. On the other side of the huge dome-like room Bemuu struggled to stand, then lost her balance and fell back to the cold metal floor. Malib didn't even bother to look up so he didn't see the dark burn marks on her face and arms, nor did he see her go suddenly still. Instead he focused on their primary objective and began calling up the programming and subroutines needed to complete the final stage of their project and tear a permanent rupture between the trans-dimensional realm and the alpha quadrant.

He was still reviewing the data and trying to find a way to restart the system when the sounds of orbital phaser fire reached his ears. _How long would the deflector shields hold_? Malib's female personality was not a military one and thus he did not know for certain. What he did notice with a sudden eerie realization was that their powerful ground-based anti-aircraft batteries _weren't even firing back_. He couldn't hear the familiar sound of a single disruptor blast, a noise that was etched in his memory since the day the Federation officers and their shuttle had successfully escaped.

In front of him the force fields surrounding the pedestal continued to hum and he could see the fluctuating resonance of the portal through the drifting smoke. _What if the force fields were to suddenly fail while there was still radiation contained within_? The thought continued to haunt him as he desperately worked to restart the subspace emitters. He glanced briefly at Bemuu's unmoving body as the orbital phaser bombardment continued and the possibility grew steadily more likely. He remembered the Breen in the central command office that he had left behind and wondered if any of them were still watching the computer safeguards. _There's still enough radiation in that portal to kill a human being_, he realized as he studied the readouts in front of him. Whatever had struck the top of the tower had reverberated all the way down to the bottom and completely destabilized the artificial doorway between universes.

A tremendous explosion on the perimeter of the camp suddenly resounded throughout the entire base. Even this far away from the domed power plants Malib could feel the heat from the outer edge of the shock wave. He knew instantly that one of the mighty Dominon power plants was no longer functioning. Before he could even cuss properly two more of the huge explosions rattled the ground and the tower's reinforced structure. Realizing that half of their total power supply was gone within the space of sixty seconds, Malib glanced warily at the force fields surrounding the portal.

A huge, fourth explosion boomed through the base and he saw some of the energy barriers flicker for a brief instant. New waves of anxiety crept through him as he could only stand helplessly by and wait to see just how foolish the Federation military was. _What if they're stupid enough to destroy all six_? The thought of the tower radiation uncontained and draining into the planet's atmosphere suddenly made his skin crawl with terror. He noticeably twitched at the fifth explosion, realizing that one power plant was all that separated him from a painfully slow death.

Seconds seemed to pass ever so slowly but the expected sixth explosion never came. Malib practically cackled with glee as the restart sequence on the console in front of him initiated and the subspace emitters came back on-line. Hurriedly he activated the new program and prepared to initiate it, noticing that the distinctive sound of high-powered Federation phaser fire from outside had ceased. Suddenly there was an awful silence running throughout the entire base camp – the sound of the force fields in front of him and the emitters powering up was all that he could hear. If he listened closely enough he could hear the sound of flames burning outdoors and every time his gaze found a window the thick black smoke outside was also quite noticeable.

Malib continued to work as fast as the computer would allow and noticed that the portal at the top of the pedestal was fluctuating much more rhythmically now as it continued to stabilize. The radiation levels around the doorway itself had dropped to an acceptable level and he shut off one of the smaller force fields keeping it shielded. Grinning he set a time delayed routine to initiate the actual subspace tear and laughed out loud as he proudly remembered the simulation results.

_Probability of success? 98.73 percent_! All he had to do was code a one minute delay, then walk through the portal and return to his realm. If a new body capable of surviving in the alternate universe was not immediately available, his consciousness would be stored on one of the portable devices for later use. And once he was gone the computer would automatically initiate the subspace rupture, guaranteeing that he could return one day and exact revenge. He was still making the necessary last minute changes to the computer programs to give him the time he needed when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Step away from that work station and put your hands in the air… _now_!"


	18. Occupation

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter XVIII: Occupation**

A stab of fear ran up Malib's spine and he hesitated, deciding whether or not he could initiate the final sequence to intensify the portal before the newcomer shot him. "I take it _Starfleet_ has arrived," he said arrogantly, holding up his hands as though surrendering. A small distraction would be all he needed, since getting home was his secondary objective after all. Carving a permanent doorway into subspace for use by his people was still first on his list of things to take care of before the entire base and its systems were shut down for good.

"No, I'm not from Starfleet actually," the man behind him said. "Most people call me Sloan, and I'm not here to talk, beg, or open diplomatic relations with you. I _am_ here to make certain that your project ends right here and now."

Malib spun around quickly and reached for the work station, but a hot orange phaser beam beat him to the punch and disintegrated most of the console before he could even touch it. That was most fortunate for him as things turned out, since the hair on his arms stood on end as the blast passed close by and his forearms suffered minor burning from the extreme heat of the blast. The leftover molten metal glowed bright orange and white for a moment as it flowed steadily down to the metallic suspending flooring, where it crackled with heat, smoldered, and gradually began cooling.

The blinking gold lights at the base of the pedestal dimmed and Malib once again heard the distinctive sound of the subspace emitters shutting down. The Breen scientists had programmed it that way specifically so that loss of control from the computer systems above would keep the underground antimatter reactor below from overloading and exploding – and thereby taking most of the planet with it. Still, the sound was extremely troubling to him as he studied the row of overloaded work stations and noted that all of them were now dark and powerless.

"_You absolute fool_!" Malib screamed at him. "That was the _last_ working computer link to the subspace emitters. Without them the portal will collapse within a matter of minutes… I doubt very much that the other end of it even leads to the proper location that it's supposed to on our side of the subspace tunnel anymore. You've trapped us _all _here in this universe."

"That's right," Sloan said savagely, "You're _all_ trapped here… every single one of you." He stepped forward and leveled his phaser at Malib. "You were _really_ going to do it," he said with a look of pure disbelief. "_One_ power plant is not nearly enough to keep those force fields in place while you create your permanent rupture. You were willing to vent all of the new radiation you generated directly into the atmosphere and sacrifice _everyone_ on this planet for your stupid, fouled up invasion plan that has been doomed to fail for some time now." A wry grin appeared on Sloan's face. "I'm not the biggest fan of Starfleet myself, but I have to admit they sure clipped your wings fast enough."

"You fool," Malib repeated as he rubbed the burned areas of both arms. As he spoke, Sloan looked past him to a lengthy table behind him – specifically at the objects stacked very carefully along its surface.

Noticing his gaze, Malib turned his head and cringed at the _dozens_ of boxes setting on the table, each of which contained _fifty_ of the portable transfer devices. The internal power lights were active and winking bright red, indicating that each of them held in storage the complete personality of a Guardian from the trans-dimensional realm. There were at least fifteen hundred of the miniaturized computer units sitting in the various boxes, and Malib abruptly realized with extreme frustration that none of them were ever going to reach their pre-selected targets. Truthfully, he was no longer certain if his friends stored on the devices would ever find themselves in a physical body again.

Anger boiled up within him and he furiously glared at the short, stocky Section 31 agent. A series of electronic chirps sounded as Sloan reset his hand phaser. Raising it the covert Federation operative fired it again, directing a searing hot energy beam into Malib's right leg.

"_Aaagghh_!" Malib gasped as a dark smear appeared on his thigh. He fell to the floor in agony as small wisps of smoke rose from the blackened area around the phaser wound. He cried out again in pain as a second shot caught him in the upper left shoulder. With tears running from his eyes in response to the intense burst of pain he fell to his knees and then flopped backward, feeling the cold metallic surface of the floor press up against his back. "_Who are you_?" the Guardian gasped with surprise. "Even on the most primitive human planets within the Federation, in this quadrant your government respects people's rights."

Again Sloan adjusted the setting on his phaser, this time back to a higher power level. "You have already murdered many of us by stealing our bodies on this planet, and you have also seized power by killing those in authority using this same tactic on more than one world here in our galaxy. You and your kind are invaders, pure and simple, and I have come here to kill you and then them!" Again he glanced at the boxes of portable Guardian units sitting behind Malib. Without a hint of emotion he raised his phaser and pointed it at Malib. "First _you_ answer to me and then your friends on that table are next!"

The look on Sloan's face went abruptly blank as he stiffened from an unexpected phaser shot that caught him from behind. The force of the blast spun him around and – completely surprised – he could see the android officer from the _Enterprise_ standing by with a phaser rifle pointed his way. Captain Picard was next to him and quickly shot Sloan a second time to make sure the Section 31 operative had no chance to carry out his threat and execute Malib. Stunned into unconsciousness Sloan fell to the floor, his own phaser tumbling from his grasp and clattering away across the cold metal surface.

Janeway, Data and several of Worf's heavily armed security officers followed Captain Picard through the wide open doors to the massive central control chamber. Behind them, dark smoke from fires still out of control was everywhere and had shrouded the entire base in near darkness. In the distance they could hear the sounds of Federation phaser fire as Worf, Riker, and the _Enterprise_ security crew continued to take care of any remaining enemy troops still foolish enough to offer resistance. As he walked inside the spacious command center, Data curiously glanced up and admired the construction of the domed structure and the sturdiness of the foundation upon which the soaring tower above rested.

"Please… _please_," Malib begged, grabbing his wounded shoulder and trying not to pass out from the pain. "_Please help me_."

"Why of course," Picard said, leaning down and checking Bemuu's pulse. He tapped his Comm-badge. "Doctor Crusher, as time permits I need medical assistance from one of your staff in the central tower. It's nothing life threatening, so be sure and see to the other wounded members of the camp first."

"_Acknowledged_."

"For all your famous Federation talk about respecting rights, it's pretty clear to me how you plan to treat your prisoners," Malib sneered in response. He tried to remain defiant, but fresh pain burst through his nervous system and he grabbed his wounded leg in response.

"Oh I assure you, the Breen and reptilian-Xindi on this base will be treated quite well," Picard commented back to him. "Those people that have not been converted to Guardians, that is. As for you," he shrugged his shoulders, "The Federation Council will have to make a decision on that one. I've worked closely with them for years and trust their judgment."

"No… What _you_ are _going_ to do is listen to me," Malib said between hysterical gasps of pain. "I'm ordering you to gather up all your men and leave this planet immediately. You're also going to withdraw all Federation, Klingon and Cardassian troops from the colonies in the demilitarized zone and let the Breen there return. If you don't, the Guardians that we placed in charge of the Breen and reptilian home worlds will order the starships orbiting above to _exterminate_ the civilian populations on both worlds."

Picard glanced back at Janeway with a look of complete astonishment and she simply stood there quietly with her arms folded, giving him a confident nod. Smiling, the Captain turned back to the injured prisoner at his feet.

"It is obviously quite isolated here within the Dark Nebula amongst all this gravity, invisible matter and radiation," Picard said to Malib. "So I guess you don't get news updates on the rest of the alpha quadrant often enough. Because if you did you would already know that your threat is an empty one. By assigning starships to the DMZ and in this nebula, you have spread the Breen and reptilian forces too thin and left their home worlds extremely vulnerable by doing so." Picard enjoyed watching his reaction. "_Additional coalition fleets have already invaded and seized control of both star systems_." He glared fiercely at Malib's shocked reaction. "Our Xindi allies have captured the reptilians' new home world, and Starfleet has landed troops on the surface of Breen. Your people may be here in the alpha quadrant, but they're not in charge of anything."

"What?" Malib said in astonishment. "But you…"

"Starfleet always negotiates first and shoots later – isn't that right?" Janeway interrupted him with a wry smile as she stepped forward. "Is that what you were going to say? The Federation follows a policy of non-interference – we don't engage in pre-emptive strikes or take part in regime change." She stopped next to Picard and stared intently down at their cowering captive. "It looks to me like you wagered heavily on history repeating and lost all your chips. I'd feel sorry for you, but what you're about to endure are called the consequences of your actions. We've worked for over two hundred years to build a peaceful blending of unique cultures. You barging into our universe and murdering our citizens is a disruption to that way of life we simply cannot tolerate."

"Our Doctors have figured out how to detect your presence in _all_ alpha quadrant species," Picard said with a scowl. "The fact that your transfer process completely wipes out the life force of your prisoners made solving that problem very easy for us. And I'm not lying to you – currently Starfleet forces are taking complete control of the Breen and reptilian governments. And everyone else in the alpha quadrant is being warned as we speak how to check for your presence." His expression hardened. "Some of those governments have some pretty nasty labor camps for spies and criminals… it looks as though _you_ lucked out."

Groaning, Sloan's body began moving again and the groggy Section 31 agent sat up and tried to shake the dizziness from his head. As he slowly stood up Data pointed and a team of Federation security men moved into the tower complex, confiscated his electronic armband and took Sloan into custody.

"What are you… doing?" Sloan wondered, his lightheadedness quite obvious.

"We're putting you in prison Sloan," Janeway told him. "Since Section 31 apparently can't follow its new orders without us making an example of someone, it's going to be _you_. You're going to get a fair trial on charges of conspiracy and murder, at which time all the evidence that I promised you we have will be presented. I have little doubt as to the outcome – when all is said and done I'm pretty sure that both you and most of your colleagues on this project alone will find your personal freedoms restricted for some time to come."

"_You wouldn't even have stopped this project in time if it wasn't for me_!" Sloan shouted, pointing at the smoking remnants of Malib's work station. "Do you _realize_ what he was trying to do? He was going to tear a permanent subspace rupture between his universe and ours!"

"We were here," Data informed him. "Our transporters were linked to yours and we beamed down to the surface at the same instant you did." He studied Sloan's reaction closely. "I believe that the Captain and Admiral Janeway wanted to let you attempt homicide and thereby implicate yourself in front of witnesses one last time."

Sloan looked at Data with disbelief. "Fine – arrest me then," he seethed. "But you _must_ permit me to destroy those devices first," the Section 31 operative insisted, pointing to the open cartons setting on the long table behind the row of powerless computer work stations. "We cannot take the chance that someone else in our universe may find them and re-establish the Guardians as a threat to us. The minds stored on those devices can recreate the technology on this base…" Still dizzy from the multiple stun blasts, his feet almost came out from under him and he had to reach out and steady himself by grabbing onto one of the guards standing next to him.

Picard took a long and careful look at the boxes setting on the table as he immediately grasped their significance. Casting a disgusted look at Malib he went over and picked up the first container and the fifty portable transfer devices it held. With a flash of anger he carefully read aloud the name stamped on its front. "_Betazed_," he said heatedly. Walking along the table he continued reading the names on each box. "Ferenginar, Earth, Kronos, Cardassia, Tzenkethi, Romulus, Bajor, Vulcan, Andoria…" he paused and the rage in his expression was obvious. "My but you Guardians _do_ have ambitious plans for our alpha quadrant, don't you?"

"_Please_," Malib begged, trying to pull himself into a sitting position. "I beg you… _don't_ hurt them! Some of my people's _finest_ minds are stored on those units."

"Why would I hurt them?" Picard asked acidly. "I think we should simply send them back where they came from…" Without another word he threw the box he was holding across the room where it struck the perimeter of the still-fluctuating portal and vanished inside. His anger was flowing freely now and he picked up a second box of the devices and repeated the action.

"_Stop_!" Malib cried, helplessly watching Picard. "I stabilized the wormhole, but I didn't get my new settings finalized in time for the subspace emitters to make the latest set of adjustments. The other end of the portal could be anywhere on my side now… certainly the conduit doesn't lead where it's supposed to any longer. You've just sent one hundred of my people to an unknown destination."

"Then my suggestion would be that your people _stop_ wasting their time trying to poke holes in our universe and _start_ looking for these devices," the Captain said as he threw a third box into the portal. "My engineer tells me that the power supply on each unit will last a long time, but not forever." He continued to pick up and throw the cartons of transfer devices into the artificial doorway until every one of them was gone. The portal itself was gradually beginning to fluctuate less quickly while it noticeably grew smaller with each passing minute.

"You have no _right_!" Malib said weakly as he continued to cry, watching the last box disappear into the portal. "You have no right…" A thought occurred to him. "What are the people already here supposed to _do now_? We're _trapped_ in your universe?"

"Oh I'm certain we can find something to occupy your time," Janeway decided as she smiled reassuringly at Picard. He was as emotional as she had ever seen him, but he still hadn't lost his Captain's poise. "After all, you worked so hard to get here and steal the bodies of our people that I think it would be a shame if you left so quickly. I'll make certain that you personally get a first hand look at the Federation's process for prosecuting war criminals."

Doctor Crusher and a squad of additional Starfleet troops entered the large chamber surrounding them. She knelt down next to Bemuu and – as Picard had – checked the woman's pulse. A quick analysis with her tricorder confirmed that the human woman lying on the floor was dead. "She went into cardiac arrest, probably from a severe electrical shock," Crusher said, holding up one of Bemuu's arms to inspect the burns on it. "If only someone had been here, they could have administered CPR and saved her life."

Picard gave the Doctor a frustrated look. "Someone _was_ here," he said angrily, "But he had _other_ priorities to attend to." Without another word he simply pointed at the cowering, emotionally spent creature that was now Malib. His wounds had been cauterized by the heat from the energy beams so he wasn't bleeding. Crusher moved over to inspect his injuries, noting that the Guardian in human form flinched several times as she examined him and then began treating his phaser wounds.

* * *

An hour later Picard walked slowly out into the sunlight, followed almost immediately by Data and Janeway. Some of the smoke was beginning to clear and they could see dozens of enemy prisoners lined up in large groups around the camp. The Species 8472 aliens were standing alongside the armed Federation security personnel, making certain that the Breen and reptilians caused no further trouble. Large shuttles were continually descending from orbit to pick up the prisoners and transport them to secure facilities where they would be interrogated and then quite probably allowed to return to their home planet. What sanctions would be imposed against their governments as a penalty for the devious plot that had unfolded here was just one more decision that the Captain planned to leave up to the Federation Council.

A shimmering blue transporter beam appeared off to their right and Geordi materialized with a tricorder in one hand and a tool kit in another. "Mr. LaForge, it looks like all of the scientific work stations inside that tower have been destroyed or heavily damaged by our attack. Will it be possible to figure out how all of this claptrap of theirs works without a functioning terminal?" Picard watched the engineer's reaction with interest, since Geordi had thoroughly studied the shuttle mission's sensor readouts of the planet and so far was their resident expert.

"I don't see that as presenting a problem Captain," the engineer decided. "The access points provided by their computer stations would just have extra security that I would have to bypass anyway. As things stand I should be able to focus on disabling the firewalls that directly protect their database. Data can assist me." He headed past them into the tower with a noticeable air of curiosity, anxious to take a close up look at the alien technology.

As Picard carefully surveyed the quieted camp and its smaller fires that continued to burn in the immediate area he noticed Commander Riker walking toward them with a phaser rifle hoisted against one shoulder. Behind Riker was one of the domed power plants, still primarily intact except for the scorched hole on its surface where an orbital phaser beam had pierced it. The Captain waited patiently for his First Officer, continuing to take a detailed first-hand look at the secret base that was the source of so much post-war trouble in the region.

"I think we got here just in time Captain," Riker told him, surveying at close range the tower that seemed at first glance to reach almost as high as the clouds in the sky above. He also found himself unable to resist studying the massive structure, since he had only glimpsed it from a distance on his first trip to the planet.

"I've been in that tower Number One, and I can tell you for _certain_ that we got here just in time." The Captain took a deep breath and glanced at his First Officer. "Casualties?"

"We were lucky," Riker decided. "We've had very few ground casualties on both sides, thanks to Admiral Janeway's Species 8472 friends. It's mostly a lot of broken bones where the enemy is concerned." He stood alongside Picard and the two of them continued to watch the smoke still drifting throughout the rapidly emptying enemy camp. "Sparing so many of the Breen and reptilian soldiers will go a long way toward winning us some support during our occupation of their home worlds. If we had simply wiped them out the way Daniels and Sloan suggested, I doubt we'd be able to sway public opinion amongst their people to our side any time soon."

"Surprise, we were right and they were wrong," the Captain stated flatly. "Trusting our own judgment has always been the best option. What is our fleet status?"

"Our losses were minimal there too. The _Bellerophon_ and the _Atlantis_ took the heaviest damage but our aquatic friends used their huge starship to protect most of the fleet. The _Vendetta_'s warp drive is temporarily offline but her Captain expects to have them up and running within twelve hours." He shook his head with disbelief. "Even so, once those bio-ships from fluidic space showed up I'm told the fighting ended pretty quickly."

"Did I hear someone mention the _Bellerophon_?" Admiral Janeway asked, walking over to join them. "I believe that's an Intrepid-Class starship – I'll have to use my pull with Starfleet to have it bumped to the top of the repair list." She glanced at Riker and he sized her mood up instantly, noticing the concerned expression on her face.

"We lost people, but not as many as we could have," he informed her. "Your friends from fluidic space really saved the day."

"I wish we could have used them on the Breen and reptilian home worlds," Janeway mused thoughtfully. "That's going to be a much tougher nut to crack, I'm afraid. Establishing a more peace-based philosophy at the head of those two governments will take lots of time and patience."

"Having seen Species 8472 up close and personal, I think their appearance alone would scare the living daylights out of most civilians in this quadrant," Riker observed.

"So what do you think, Jean Luc?" Janeway asked him.

"It all seems like an endless circle sometimes," Picard observed, standing beside her deep in thought. "We finally got the Bajorans and the Cardassians talking peacefully and someone tries to stir up trouble in the DMZ. So we work to quell the chaos in that area and now we've had no choice but to land troops on two more alien worlds."

"This quadrant would be a lot worse off if the Federation weren't around," pointed out Riker. "It may seem endless sometimes Captain but you and I both know that the Federation has accomplished an awful lot, during our lifetime alone. We've literally helped keep trillions of innocent people safe and free."

"If you'd ever like to see what life without the Federation is like, I'll let you review my log entries on the delta quadrant," the Admiral suggested. "I can tell you from firsthand experience that you have to do some serious searching over there to find people who care about anything other than themselves. There are still good societies to be found, but they're few and far between. Usually the concept of the common good is found only under the severe restrictions provided by a Borg collective consciousness."

"I have to admit, that armor technology of yours worked like a charm Admiral," said Riker gratefully. "It's too bad we can't keep it around on a full time basis."

Picard harrumphed at his First Officer's comment. "As long as I command the _Enterprise_, it will be a ship of exploration _first_ except during war time," he said emphatically. "That armor – like the Romulan's cloaking device – is a first strike mega-weapon. We shall not carry it so long as I am in charge. Exploring the galaxy must be conducted by people of good character, and contacting new species will always begin with sincere acts of trust and good faith negotiation."

"Then the Federation is in good hands," Janeway proclaimed cheerfully. "You are an honorable man and I have complete faith in you." She put a hand on his shoulder for emotional support as she noticed how troubling the DNX-920 incident had been for him. "C'mon, Jean Luc – let's go home."

* * *

Later that evening the Admiral sat in her quarters on board the _Enterprise_, deep in thought. She held a data pad containing mission status reports and was still reviewing the rapid-fire series of events that had occurred earlier in the day, knowing that once she returned to Starfleet headquarters she would be required to advise the Federation Council on how best to proceed next. A successful military campaign usually tended to help politicians breathe easier, particularly when casualties were minimized. Dealing with the aftermath, however – now _that_ was something just as unpredictable and she was finding it required an equal amount of study and carried with it the same amount of unpredictability mixed with risk.

Her Comm-badge chirped. "_Admiral Janeway, we're receiving a subspace transmission for you_," said Commander Data from the bridge. "_Shall I route it directly to your quarters_?"

"Please," she responded, setting her half empty cup of coffee down on a tray next to her and moving to the room's desk and work station. She activated the computer and screen in front of her and the image fuzzed over for a few seconds. Once the visual steadied itself she found herself looking at Boothby, the elderly gardener from Starfleet Academy.

"_Things seem to have gone just as you planned Admiral_," said the man who appeared to be Boothby. "_I've never seen a military campaign go better than that one did_."

"Much of it thanks to you," she replied. "We never would have gotten the drop on them so quickly on the planet if it hadn't been for the distraction provided by your people." The Admiral paused, staring at him with a wondrous expression on her face. "You look so much like the real Boothby," she commented. "It's still difficult for me to believe that you're actually one of the Species 8472 aliens mimicking a humanoid form."

"_This method of communication between our two species seems to work best_."

"Tell me," Janeway said curiously, casting a smirk his way. "Were you one of those creatures I saw on the ground today, or did you simply direct things from within fluidic space?"

"_I'll never tell_," he said, smiling back at her.

"Our casualties were extremely low, but we still have a few letters to write to families," the Admiral said with a hint of sadness. "I sincerely hope that you didn't lose anybody."

"_In your environment we're nearly indestructible_," Boothby told her. "_Since our bio-ships live in the biological fluid that comprises most of our space, our molecular structure is much denser and tougher to pierce with directed energy weapons. That's one of the reasons our own vessels carry such heavy firepower – anything less powerful is often completely ineffective_." He shrugged at her. "_So far the nanoprobe technology that you developed has been the only thing that has really put a scare into us… I'm continuing to study the data you gave me during our first meeting in the delta quadrant_."

She picked up her cup of coffee and took a quick sip. "Your people don't fight many wars in your universe, I hope."

His reaction to her comment was a warm smile. "_Not any longer_," Boothby said with pride and satisfaction. "_Our own differences were set aside for the common good long ago, and – as you so eloquently pointed out yesterday – we haven't heard from the Borg in your universe since you destroyed their uni-complex. The truce that your people and mine have formed could quite possibly be a lasting one… that is _my_ sincere hope anyway_."

"It is mine as well," Janeway replied with a cheerful expression. "There's something about having a powerful ally who can suddenly show up out of nowhere that appeals to me, particularly during this time when the Federation's authority is constantly being challenged." She nodded to him. "Starfleet's goal is to contact new life forms and new civilizations and initiate positive relations with them… if you ever need our help with anything, we owe you one."

"_Our discussions have been very productive for me as well_," the Boothby alien decided. "_I look at this as simple repaying the favor that you indirectly did for us Admiral – not having the Borg continually trying to poke their noses into our fluidic environment has restored a lot of stability in this realm. I do plan to check in with you once in a while – if for no other reason than to maintain our positive relationship_."

"I will look forward to that," Janeway said. "And thank you again for all your help." He nodded, smiled one last time and then closed down the channel. The Admiral watched the screen go blank with a huge sigh of relief. Things were finally back under control – for now, at least.

* * *

_Captain's log, Stardate 55429.6: After making certain that everything is in order, both the _Enterprise_ and the _Defiant_ have left the Dark Nebula and resumed course for Deep Space Nine. We have a peace conference to conclude, after all, and things should proceed much more smoothly now that the disruptive influences in the region have been properly dealt with. The rest of the fleet will stay behind for now to oversee the dismantling of the Breen encampment on the second planet in the DNX-920 system. I have to say that the decision to deploy additional troops on the Breen and reptilian home worlds is a very troublesome prospect for me, but to this day I do not see any other option given the circumstances. I have historically not been a fan of hindsight and do not plan to give in to it this time either._

_The Breen have broken their policy of isolationism on two occasions, both of which have resulted in Federation casualties. The Admiral and I talked at length before choosing our present course of action and decided together that continuing to sit back and do nothing would only embolden them further. I would therefore like to extend my sincere compliments to the Federation Council and thank them for trusting us on this matter. Resistance to our presence on both planets was heavy at first, but not after we revealed their governments' top officials as the Guardians that they truly are. Needless to say, the civilian population of both worlds was a bit angry upon discovering that their plan to subjugate others had secretly left them the conquered._

_Once again my senior officers performed magnificently, and I do not know how I could possibly command so effectively without their ongoing support. Therefore I would like to enter commendations for Commander William T. Riker, Doctor Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant-Commanders Geordi LaForge and Worf. As usual, the ship's Counselor Deanna Troi filled in most efficiently with the tasks of running the bridge while I was gone and also at tactical. It is not her preferred duty, but she performs it with professionalism and expertise each time I call upon her so I would like to give her special mention as well. A final note: I realize that Commander Data has accumulated plenty of medals to his credit already during his time with Starfleet, but if he does not receive another for his brilliant and compassionate handling of the crisis on Stadia then I will find myself extremely disappointed.

* * *

_

The Captain picked up a pitcher of hot coffee and poured the Admiral a refill. He reseated himself and leaned back in his seat as he listened for a moment to the light music he had playing in the background. He took a sip of Earl Grey from the cup in front of him and then tried to read Janeway's expression as she sat quietly across from him. She had listened to his log entry without giving away any of her own feelings and he was extremely curious to hear how she felt. "What do you think Admiral?" he finally asked her.

"This was a big gamble on our part, full of risk and unpredictable outcomes. I think that there will be a lot of chaos and disruption on both the Breen and reptilian planets for some time to come," she predicted, setting the coffee cup she held onto the small table in front of her. "I'm not crazy about it and I think we're going to lose people trying to keep the peace, but history will unfold much less violently now that those two governments aren't trying to stick their noses into everyone else's business for their own personal gain."

"This is the most aggressive stance I have ever encouraged the Federation to take," Picard decided. "No matter how you slice it, we're part bad guy in this one. But there's no way around the facts of the situation, and those facts show irrevocably that our response was initiated by the actions of those two governments. They _chose_ to make this our problem, so I still think it is _our_ right to choose how we best protect our interests." He shrugged his shoulders for emphasis. "The people at the head of government are always so concerned about politics – I truly believe we caught them completely by surprise when we proposed this plan and put the long-term interests of the Federation ahead of our own careers… and theirs."

"Agreed," she said with a nod.

"Do you think the Breen will resent our presence or appreciate it?"

"Look at it from their point of view for a moment Jean Luc," suggested the Admiral. "They've been sitting there, secretly hiding their true intentions from us for years. And during all of that time, not once has either of those races offered to assist in defending the alpha quadrant against the multiple threats we've faced. They've sat back and watched, knowing that if we were conquered an opportunity might present itself for them to annex some of our worlds. In my opinion the final straw was the Dominion war – the Breen actually tried to make a last minute alliance with the Founders during the time when it appeared that they were winning so that once again they could try and seize additional territory for themselves. They're like on of those trap-door spiders on Earth… they hide in the sand until you forget they're still around and then they suddenly pop out and attack while your back is turned."

"I don't like the idea of losing people trying to clean up the mess they've made of their own governments. However, I don't see them abiding by any additional treaty proclamations that we ask them to sign."

"Neither do I Jean Luc. Unless we get the Breen civilians to step forward and take control of their own future there will never be a motivation for change on their world. As long as there is violence in the demilitarized zone or within the Federation itself there's no reason for their people to care – it's not their world or their people who are suffering. Now that the disruptions and enemy troop presence have been confined to their home and population, it may take some time and patience on our part but they _will_ come around to a more reasonable way of thinking. They certainly won't cherish the same values that we do but if nothing else – we'll remind them that we have a big enough stick to make them blink if they mess with us. They won't be in a hurry to wake up and find us on their front lawn again."

Picard stood up and walked over to one of the windows on the outer wall of his quarters. He watched the undersized, overpowered _Defiant_ flying alongside them for several minutes, thinking over Janeway's words carefully. "I'm told that the reptilians don't even have a civilian population of the sort that we're familiar with. Virtually everyone in that culture is bred and conscripted early on and trained throughout his or her lifetime for military duty."

"That's why I'm willing to let Jommyn, Pykiim, and the aquatics deal with the reptilians," commented the Admiral. "If they can't reach out to their Xindi brothers and convince them to adjust to a more peaceful philosophy I don't realistically see us as being able to either."

"The reptilians were pretty upset when they found out their _entire_ command structure had been secretly converted to Guardians," Picard said with a small chuckle. "If the trans-dimensional aliens were truly deities of some sort, virtually anyone with common sense would want to know why they would need reptilian bodies."

"It just goes to prove how deeply the beliefs of a populace can reach," observed Janeway. "They had hard evidence presented to them by Starfleet over two hundred years ago that the Guardians were terra-forming the alpha quadrant for colonization, yet they still chose to follow the lead of people who helped them through the destruction of their original home world. They hung on to the belief that somehow their gods were real. A bucket of cold water like the assassination of their leaders is indeed a very sad thing, but it's exactly the shock that was needed to demonstrate to them just how badly they were being duped."

Picard found himself chuckling a bit as he continued to gaze out the window and watch the sleek form of the _Defiant_ continue to slice through the stars streaming by them. "At least our mutual friend _Q_ stayed out of this," he said with a small smile. "This is exactly the type of crisis he is notorious for poking his nose into. Sometimes I actually find myself starting to believe that he may be gaining some faith in the human race after all."

"Be careful Jean Luc," Janeway warned. Hearing the concern in her tone, Picard quickly turned around. Next to his teacup two cigars had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "He may be busy with parental responsibilities these days, but _Q_ will always be watching Starfleet in some way, shape or form. Despite his claims of omnipotence and his praise of the continuum as the greatest race in the universe, I don't think he can help himself."

The Captain picked up one of the cigars. "Well, at least this time he didn't send the mariachi band," he commented with another chuckle, holding up the cigar to examine it more closely. "If this becomes his preferred method of meddling you won't hear the usual complaints from me." He smiled and set the cigar back down next to its twin. "Now about that peace conference we have left…"

"This time I think we can _both_ get some rest," the Admiral promised with a smile. "I'll send a report to your work station and you can read all about it later. I think you're going to like the decision that the Federation Council has come up with." She stood up and thanked him for the coffee, then moved toward the door.

"It's been a pleasure serving with you Admiral Janeway," Picard said nobly, nodding his head and giving her his warmest smile.

"Likewise Jean Luc," she said. "People of sound principle and good judgment are difficult to find these days. Everyone with great responsibility has no choice but to break the rules at some point in a career – the trick is to have the knowledge, experience and common sense to know _when_ a situation requires one of those tough decisions."

"Some day I would like to hear more about your time in the delta quadrant."

"We'll leave that for another day then," she promised, stepping out into the corridor. He watched the door slide shut behind her and then turned back to the window and silently continued to watch the _Defiant_.

* * *

_Author's note: This is NOT by any means over! What will happen now? Who will show up next? Find out very soon!_


	19. Long Term Relationships

**Star Trek: Absolution**

**Chapter XIX: Long-Term Relationships**

Gul Mullis entered the security area of his flagship and walked down a long corridor to a large set of sealed doors at the very end. Although his forces were still patrolling the former demilitarized zone and holding the Breen starships they had captured prisoner, his vessel had just arrived at Deep Space Nine for the conclusion of the peace conference. Prior to leaving the bridge he had given the order to initiate a standard docking sequence at one of the station's upper pylons. As he moved through the large security doors and further into the ship's brig, Mullis stopped in front of one of the occupied cells and glared with barely contained rage at the Cardassian prisoner within.

"You are Glinn Tavis, the man who has _pretended_ to be my aide these past few weeks," he said accusingly. "I think you will find it most fortunate that our government is now run by civilians – I no longer have the option to have you executed on the spot."

"But I _am_ Tavis," the man inside insisted, standing up and walking over to the forcefield at the cell's entrance. "Why am I being detained here? What have I done?"

"I did not understand at first _why_ the Federation was so hesitant to fully inform us of their plan for retaking the DMZ colonies," Mullis commented. His anger continued to build as he held up several printed, color-coded computerized images of a Cardassian skull. "Your neural patterns indicate that you are not who you claim to be. I would call you a traitor but I have been told that this is _not_ the case. Tavis died a hero to his people, and you are simply the _thing_ that now has control of his mind and body."

"There must be some massive mistake Gul Mullis," Tavis protested, waving his hands in dismay. "I have no idea what you are talking about… I _swear_ it."

Mullis responded by holding up another picture, this one a printed image of the electronic device confiscated from Patrick Hazelton's quarters on Deep Space Nine. The picture clearly showed the apparatus with its left and right wings fully open and the deadly needle in its center protruding forth. "We have identified you as an enemy agent using intelligence transmitted to us from Starfleet Command. Have you been hanging around impersonating my Glinn _all _of this time waiting for an opportunity to use one of these on me? We found one in your quarters – perhaps we should attach it to _your_ forehead, then activate it and see what kind of abomination wakes up in your body _next_…" Mullis smiled darkly and Tavis noticeably flinched.

The prisoner glanced quickly at the picture, then at Mullis as his expression changed instantly to one of fear. "What are you going to do with me?" he wondered.

"We have a sudden opening in one of our labor camps," the Gul told him. "Before I'm finished with you, I promise you'll be begging to go back to whatever life you left behind when you so forcibly took possession of my aide's body. You're going to live a long life of suffering and penance in a Cardassian prison."

"_We are here – already in your galaxy_!" Tavis thundered so suddenly that Mullis took a surprised step backward. "You may imprison me now but my fellow Guardians will eventually prevail. Then the tables will be turned and you will become _my_ prisoner. Release me now and I will see that your life is spared."

"For the first time in my life I have actually learned to trust the Federation," Mullis said in reply. "After all, they did warn us in time to stop your attacks on our people. It looks to me as though they are already one step ahead of _you_. Perhaps you haven't heard… your precious Dark Nebula project is being dismantled as we speak."

"_You will regret this_," Tavis vowed, his voice filled with hatred.

"Perhaps. But until that time arrives, you will spend all of your days working in our labor camp." The Gul turned sharply to his left and walked back down the corridor without another word, leaving his prisoner seething with fury.

* * *

Admiral Nechayev was on the Cardassian bridge when Mullis returned from his visit to the brig. She noted that his mood appeared to have improved substantially, which was a bit surprising after more than a week in the DMZ. Managing grumpy Cardassian soldiers who regularly interacted with even grumpier Klingon warriors had taken its toll on both of them. "You look pleased with yourself," she said with a curious smile. "Were you able to get any answers out of our prisoner?" 

"No," Mullis said with a grin. "He does not want to tell us anything – exactly what I was hoping for." He glanced across the bridge at one of the Cardassian officers. "Make arrangements to have Tavis transferred to a penal colony until we have time to arrange for his trial."

As the officer nodded and turned back to his work station the door at the rear of the bridge opened and another Cardassian entered with a very fatigued, very weak looking human male standing beside him. The newcomer was very tall with dark hair and a full beard, but was extremely thin from an obvious long-term lack of proper nutrition and hours of forced labor.

"My people are extremely grateful for the continued assistance and intelligence data that your government is providing to us," Mullis told the short blonde Admiral. "The latest reports you gave me have saved the lives of a lot of our most prominent leaders – those we are depending on to see us through our post war crises. After what our military tried to do to the alpha quadrant during the Dominion war, I sometimes don't quite know what to say…"

"If we have learned from our past conflicts and our leaders can now safely trust each other then long term peace is definitely achievable," Nechayev told him. "Don't worry about what's in the past, Gul Mullis. There will continue to be animosity and mistrust between your people and mine, but many of the Federation's strongest allies were once our most lethal enemies. I've spent most of my career working with the Cardassian government because I have always firmly believed that we would eventually become strong allies."

"I know that," Mullis said sincerely, turning to the human standing behind him. "Your service record negotiating with my government is an impressive one, regardless of who has been in power. Additionally, we are grateful for your assistance in securing the recent release of so many of our prisoners captured by Starfleet during the Dominion war. With our home world in chaos right now, I don't have much that I can give you in return. However, I did manage to find one human prisoner in our penal system, so please consider my release of this man both a gesture of good will and a thank you on our part." He bowed to her. "It is truly the _least_ we can do right now, but it _is_ something."

He motioned to the guard and the human stepped forward. "Thomas Riker," Nechayev said as she recognized the wan smile on the face of the over-worked, long-term prisoner. "You're the transporter duplicate of William Riker – the Maquis leader who stole the _Defiant_ from Deep Space Nine and then tried to attack the Orias system."

"Yeah," Riker said weakly. "The Maquis thought that the ships at Orias were being built by the Cardassian government in a massive effort to wipe us out." He shrugged. "Who could have known that we weren't the target – I spent years in a labor camp for nothing."

"As things turned out, it was the Obsidian Order who was building that fleet of ships," pointed out Mullis. "Since we now know their actual agenda was directed toward the eventual failed attack on the gamma quadrant, it is obvious to me how the illegal construction of warships by the Order could lead to this type of… misunderstanding." He nodded at the guard, who instantly began removing the handcuffs Riker wore.

"You're really freeing me?" Thomas Riker asked with disbelief.

"Yes, unconditionally," Mullis told him. "If Starfleet decides to prosecute you further we have no control over that. However, I personally consider your debt to the Cardassian people to be repaid in full. You may go home Thomas."

"Thank you," Riker said gratefully to him.

"Take him below and provide him with clean clothing and something to eat," said Mullis to the guard. "Then see to it that he is transferred to the custody of Commander Hazelton on Deep Space Nine."

Thomas continued to smile with relief as he was led away. Nechayev watched him go with interest, her thoughts drifting back to the Maquis and the staggering series of events that had transpired since its initial formation. Things had happened quickly, but not so fast that a seasoned Starfleet Admiral like her would fail to recognize the potential for change throughout the region. She and Kathryn Janeway had been working steadily on the peace plan for some time now, and with the Dark Nebula enigma safely out of the way she was feeling extremely optimistic.

"We shouldn't need the Klingons for much longer," Nechayev told Gul Mullis. "The Breen have complied with all of our demands, so keeping them confined and unarmed on one of the DMZ colonies should be easy enough for your men once we beam them down to the surface. Their ships will be returned to them – eventually. The Federation Council still hasn't decided as to what degree we will disarm them." She turned to study his expression. "Have there been additional fights between your men and the Klingons?"

"Not as many as you might think Admiral…" Gul Mullis said with a mysterious smile. "The Klingon squadron commander and I have come up with a new way to keep our men in line. If one of my troops starts a fight… well, then all Cardassians have to drink blood wine with their meal when they go off shift. If the Klingons cause trouble, then they drink our kanar." He chuckled at the stories he had already heard and smiled at Nechayev. "At first things were not going well – but since our troops found out that we're serious things have really settled down. Who would have guessed that discipline could be maintained so easily just by threatening to take away a favorite beverage?"

He watched Admiral Nechayev laughing merrily as she imagined the mighty Klingons drinking kanar. "Do you and the Klingon commander follow this policy as well?"

"Oh yes," grinned Mullis. "But years ago I worked as a diplomat, so my palette is broader than that of most Cardassians my age and more easily satisfied by a variety of beverages. I personally do not mind an occasional cup of blood wine, but I'm not so sure that my Klingon counterpart is totally used to kanar yet. It is an acquired taste, you know." They watched each other for a few seconds and then this time both started laughing.

* * *

General Kira Nerys sat down at the head of the conference room table and felt better than she had in years. Once more she found herself surrounded by a series of familiar, friendly faces – but this time it was after having gotten to know many of them a lot better through their recent adventures together. For a second time in as many weeks she was presiding over a Bajoran peace conference, but to her astonishment so many of the ongoing problems that had plagued them at their previous meeting were no longer obstacles. To her right sat Jommyn and Pykiim from the Xindi delegation along with Gul Mullis and Admiral Alynna Nechayev. On her left were Captain Picard, Admiral Janeway and Commander Hazelton. Odo was seated at the far end of the table and Garak was nowhere to be seen this time. 

Next to Hazelton sat the woman Kira had come to know as Tasha Yar. Picard had briefed the General on Yar's history and requested that she be granted asylum on Bajor. After Kira promptly complied with the request the two of them had worked through the night to grant Tasha a new identity and provide her with the proper security clearance that she would need for her new assignment. Only the Captain, General Kira, Admiral Janeway and the command crew from the _Enterprise_ knew the real truth – to the rest of the delegation she was now known simply as a representative from Earth.

"Before we get started I would like to introduce Jann Le'letha the new Starfleet Ambassador to Bajor," Kira said, gesturing warmly toward Tasha. "She will be taking over the leadership duties at the Federation embassy here."

Everyone applauded and Tasha smiled warmly and nodded in response. She noted silently that it wouldn't take much time for her to get used to her new identity. Over the years, people had ignored the lone human on the Romulan prison colony, so the sound of her name still startled her and continued to provide a constant reminder that yes – she had truly escaped from the enemy confinement that had restricted her freedom for those many years. The new surname of Le'letha that she had chosen was from a book she had read as a child on her home planet of Turkana IV. Having seen pictures of the surface of Bajor, Tasha could not wait for the chance to actually settle down there, live in peace and truly sample its unique culture.

"There isn't too much of a backlog in work down on Bajor, is there?" the newly-christened Ambassador Le'letha asked inquisitively.

"Oh you're going to be swamped," Kira told her, "With blue skies, fresh air, growing things… and lots of sunlight. You'll love it." The General winked at her and then glanced over to Gul Mullis. "I sincerely hope things are proceeding as expected for you also."

"Admiral Nechayev no doubt has already conveyed to you my deep appreciation – and of the _entire_ Cardassian Detepa Council – for Starfleet's assistance in clearing out the demilitarized zone." Gul Mullis glanced appreciatively at all of the people sitting across from him. "As things have turned out, you have done us an additional favor by also halting the malicious activity taking place within the Dark Nebula. We do not yet know how to show our gratitude, but I can assure you that once we have rebuilt our society we shall think of something."

"We've shared our information on the Guardians with everybody we maintain relations with in the alpha and beta quadrants," Admiral Janeway mentioned. "Since we stopped them before they managed to secretly seize power on multiple worlds as they planned, those that remain in our universe are very easy to identify and track down. I'm just sorry we didn't recognize the threat that they represented sooner. They were able to conceal a lot from us within that nebula."

"In my brief experience as a government official, I've discovered that managing interstellar matters can be a complicated business Admiral," Odo commented, folding his hands together on the table top. "We will watch for stray Guardians in the gamma quadrant also, since they made us such a high priority on their list of targets."

Captain Picard turned to one of the four viewscreens that were still set up around the room to provide the aquatics with complete access to the discussion. "While we're dishing out thanks," he said, "Please allow me to convey my sincere gratitude to the Xindi delegation. Your assistance with ships and manpower helped us during a time when we are still rebuilding our own fleets. Vital defenses throughout the Federation stayed in place because of your help."

The aquatic swimming in the foreground of the viewscreen gave him a friendly wave. "_You are most welcome Captain Jean Luc Picard_," its translated voice told him. "_However, we too_ _have a vested interest of our own in all of this. With your help we have re-established contact with our reptilian brothers, and even if that contact is adversarial for now we have high hopes that they will someday rejoin us. We are also optimistic that they may eventually be helpful in assisting us to find out where the insectoid-Xindi traveled to_."

"That will likely take some time to determine," Pykiim spoke up. The arboreal-Xindi shook his maned head thoughtfully. "The insectoids were prepared for a long voyage when they originally left us, and the reptilians I've spoken to so far have _no_ idea where they went."

"Where is Garak?" Kira asked with interest. "He had replied to my message and confirmed the invitation I sent to him. I hope everything is all right with him."

"He is well but extremely busy back home," Gul Mullis stated. "I must admit that I was one of the toughest to convince where trusting the Federation is concerned." He paused to reflect for a moment. "At first. Your actions throughout this crisis have earned my complete trust, particularly Admiral Nechayev's arrangement for the recent release of the Cardassian prisoners you were holding from the Dominion war. Garak has returned to Cardassia Prime to assist in processing these men so that they can begin helping to rebuild our society. Your kind treatment of these prisoners is yet another action that our Detepa Council wants to evaluate further. They feel that proper treatment of our own prisoners is yet another issue that must be discussed and modernized prior to any future conflicts we may find ourselves in."

"It sounds like the Cardassian military – as it was – has had most of its teeth pulled," General Kira said, watching Mullis carefully for his reaction.

"That is one way of putting it General Kira," Gul Mullis decided. "But you must all understand that the people who used to run our military were lifetime appointees and often times extremely hungry for power. They considered themselves the _elite_ leadership of Cardassia, in wartime and in peace. Unless they fell out of favor or were killed they ruled with large egos and total control of our military. Many of our citizens didn't like our culture run this way but had little opportunity to speak freely in support of change. Additionally, many of our military soldiers picked up the cruel traits of our leaders or imitated them simply because _not_ doing so showed weakness in the eyes of those who _were_ in charge."

"The Detepa Council has prevailed," said Nechayev with a smile. "They were the group that your civilians elected prior to the arrival of the Dominion, and it pleases me to have helped restore them to power in the aftermath of the most recent conflict between our people. Let us hope that it is the last one for awhile."

"Agreed," Gul Mullis said, nodding respectfully to her.

"How is Kai Opaka doing?" Kira wondered. "Does she like her new home?"

The warm, emotion filled smile that Mullis gave her was the most unique expression she had ever seen on a Cardassian. "You know that woman is _remarkable_," the Gul commented. "Some of our people have greeted her warmly, but many still harbor residual bad feelings about our occupation of Bajor and the way it was handled. Regardless of what they say to her, the message she communicates back to them is always the same – _one of forgiveness, tolerance and acceptance_. I have personally witnessed my people losing control of themselves and shouting arrogant impromptu speeches at her. _Somehow_ she manages to listen, retain her composure, and turn their words back upon them. This has left many of her critics sorattled that they actually end up opening their minds and entertaining alternative points of view. It is truly wondrous what she is doing on our world. If nothing else, _she has repeatedly confounded them by pointing out how many of my people have formed strong negative opinions about Bajorans over the years without ever having met a single one of you_."

"From what she told me before she left, Opaka had plenty of time to practice being patient these past years," Kira said with a shake of her head. "It's good to hear that she is doing well." The General paused for a moment and then glanced next to Picard. "Having firsthand knowledge of how governments function I would expect that you will receive an earful of criticism if your efforts on Breen do not go well."

"Oh, people are complaining about that already," Picard said dryly. "It's something that we can never escape I'm afraid. The rapid demise of Section 31 will help somewhat, but politicians will always be politicians and our Federation Council is no different."

"Hindsight?" Kira guessed. "We've certainly had enough of it over the years on Bajor."

"Quite a bit of it actually," the Captain said with frustration. "Both the Breen and the reptilian-Xindi have belief systems that are centuries old, and those beliefs are precisely the source of the threat that their races represent to the alpha quadrant. We must put troops on the ground and expose their existing governments as the frauds that they are. By risking lives with _our_ people side by side next to theirs it is much easier to demonstrate to them that we can accomplish more together than fighting brutal wars. I firmly believe it is imperative that we teach them how to tolerate other species if we wish to keep them from biding their time, plotting in secret and striking again at some point in the future. Try explaining _that_ to a politician."

"My people learned this lesson the _hard_ way," Mullis said with a hint of sadness. "That's why we are so grateful for the assistance that our allies have provided. In the short time we have been meeting here on Deep Space Nine a majority of my people have adequate food, clothing and regular sources of fresh water for the first time since the end of the war. That is the lesson that the members of our former military never learned – they liked building impressive military careers, but weren't so knowledgeable when it came to cleaning up after a conflict or running an effective government. It is easier to fight a war than to pick up the pieces… especially this time when so much damage was done to our worlds."

"It is also easier to break off diplomatic relations than it is to really talk to someone and then listen," pointed out Picard. "That is precisely why Admiral Janeway and I settled on the occupation of the Breen and reptilian home worlds as a priority objective. It _will_ take a long time, but a sincere effort to effect permanent change on those worlds is needed and is quite simply the best way to win them over as allies. If we don't do the hard work now, history has shown that they will quietly isolate themselves – for centuries if need be – until another opportunity to attack us presents itself. Most people in politics often miss the larger picture because they focus too heavily on short term goals."

There was a long pause as everyone present took a moment to reflect upon the in-depth discussion. While the room was temporarily quiet, Kira found herself carefully reviewing the meeting agenda on the Starfleet data pad in front of her looking for additional major issues. To her surprise, there were none.

"The Bajor-Cardassian peace treaty is still in place, we have restored sovereignty of the former demilitarized zone to its colonists there, the Kai is doing great and the Dark Nebula project has been halted before it could pose a significant danger to the alpha quadrant." She glanced around the table at everyone. "It seems like we've had a successful peace conference to me… so what's left?"

"The _surprise _announcement," Janeway grinned, rising confidently to her feet. She walked over to Tasha Yar and placed her hands on the elderly woman's shoulders. "Ambassador Le'letha has been asked to join us because there's been _another_ significant accomplishment during the time that we've spent here together."

"Oh?" General Kira glanced at her curiously.

"Yes," the Admiral continued. "Not everyone was here prior to the war, so I'll give everyone a brief synopsis. Captain Sisko originally recommended that Bajor's application for Federation membership be delayed. He did so because the wormhole aliens accurately warned him that the Dominion war was coming and Bajor's membership in the Federation at the time would simply have made it another target. His request for a postponement until hostilities ceased not only saved Bajor from additional destruction, but has also served to preserve the peace treaty that its then-provisional government made with the Cardassians."

"We know that membership was postponed – that's why I sent you all the duplicate paperwork, signatures and all," Kira said firmly. "So that our application can be presented to the Federation Council and reconsidered."

"We're past that already," Janeway said with a dismissive wave of one hand. "I contacted the Federation Council on our way back from the Dark Nebula, and they decided to approve your original petition for membership on a deferred basis. So the new application is totally unnecessary as it turns out, _since as of 0600 hours this morning Bajor is now officially a member of the Federation_." She smiled warmly at General Kira. "Welcome to the club."

For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, loud cheers filled the room. Mullis and the Xindi representatives simply watched the others in the room shaking hands and happily shouting their congratulations to the General. With a wry smirk, Mullis leaned over to Nechayev and whispered. "Perhaps I should leave while I still can," he remarked with a wry smile. "This Federation of yours appears to be contagious."

"We'll get you too one day," Nechayev said confidently, watching Mullis chuckle in response to her joke. "You may laugh but I am quite serious," she chided him. He studied her reaction carefully to determine just how sincere she was in her comments. Nechayev watched his puzzlement for a moment longer and then gave him an amused smile. "Joining up is optional," she pointed out. "I'll settle for a peaceful alliance between our two cultures."

Around them the cheering continued for a time, and as the room gradually began to settle down again Kira glanced gratefully toward Picard and Janeway. "All of Bajor will be partying tonight," she predicted. "I know your command staff has the Breen situation to handle, but I hope no one will mind if you stay and celebrate with us for awhile."

Janeway took a moment to sit down again. "There is nothing short term about the Breen part of our plan," she admitted. "I guess that's why the politicians back home don't like it – they're more worried about retaining their seats on the Council." The room grew very quiet and she studied the room full of familiar faces very carefully. "What do you think Commander?" she asked Hazelton. "Have we covered everything we need to?"

The expression on his face appeared to be one of mild amusement. "Yes we have. And I think we should twist the General's arm until she calls an end to the meeting part of this diplomatic affair," he suggested. "Like she said, all of Bajor will be celebrating this evening and I myself could really use a drink." He laughed heartily. "Perhaps even two once I'm off duty."

* * *

Later that evening Picard found Tasha out on the Promenade, sitting quietly at a small table in one corner of Quark's. She was watching all of the social activity on Deep Space Nine from the perspective of someone who had never seen it before. It was unlike anything she could ever been exposed to and he liked the relieved smile on her face. 

Although it had actually been a Captain Picard from a different timeline who approved her transfer off of the alternate _Enterprise-D_, he could not help but feel somewhat responsible for the consequences she had suffered through. The world she originally came from had also been filled with violence, and since she had traveled to them from a timeline that had known only war with the Klingons he doubted very much that she had known much peace in her lifetime.

Picard wound his way through the large crowd, astonished that Tasha had managed to find a table at all. He stopped next to her and paused. "May I join you?"

"Please Captain," Tasha told him, continuing to watch the Promenade as she motioned for him to sit down.

From their vantage point they could observe most of the celebration in progress, including a very irritated Ferengi bartender who was standing by helplessly as Commander Data sat confidently at his bar and continued to win round after round on the Dabo wheel. As they watched from their table the wheel's latest electronic spin grew slower and slower before finally coming to a complete stop. Tasha winced a bit as once again she heard the enthusiastic crowd surrounding the android shout "_Dabo_!"

"How does he _do_ that?" they could hear Quark ask with dismay as he carefully studied Data's self-satisfied expression. "You've _got_ to be cheating somehow, and let me assure you, _this_ bartender is going to figure out how you're doing it!" The Ferengi continued to watch the android with interest. "You've got a system worked out, don't you?"

"Good luck on your new assignment, Ambassador Tasha Yar," Picard said sincerely, "Although from now on I will be referring to you as Jann Le'letha, just like everyone else."

"Thank you Captain," Tasha replied. "I can't wait to get to the surface. From the pictures I've seen, Bajor is a major step up from the cold, isolated desolation of my former prison colony." She took a sip from the cup in front of her. "It will be comforting to be this far from Romulan space on a permanent basis."

"If you should ever need anything," Picard told her, "And I mean _anything_… just contact me on subspace. One of the few regrets I have as a starship Captain is that I did not have the opportunity to serve with you longer. You've come a long way from that little refugee girl Starfleet rescued from the streets of Turkana IV. You have demonstrated remarkable strength of character in both victory and defeat."

"Thanks," she replied. "I've read most of the history that Counselor Troi gave me, and unfortunately for my people the conditions on my planet are pretty much the same in _both_ timelines. It's really a shame."

"There's still hope," the Captain pointed out. "But they must first _choose_ to stop fighting each other before anyone can truly help them. Unfortunately I do not believe that this will occur in our lifetime." He stood up and this prompted her to also rise along with him. Without the slightest hesitation he walked over and hugged her warmly. "Good luck Ambassador Le'letha," he whispered in her ear. "Take good care of yourself, and enjoy your new life on Bajor."

"Thanks Captain Picard," she said with a smile. Behind her she could hear the familiar whirring and click of the wheel slowing to a stop once again.

"_Dabo_!" everyone surrounding the bar shouted once again.

* * *

Julian Bashir woke from his nap to the sounds of his wife busily working in the next room. Rising to his feet and stretching, he wandered into the main living area of their quarters and stared with surprised delight at the candles and festive table that she had set for him. There was quite a lot of food on the table and his eyes widened as he took in the sight. 

"My, you've been busy," he observed. "I guess it's a good thing I brought my appetite."

"Have a seat Julian," she said with a mysterious smile as she kissed him. Ezri Dax walked around behind him and pulled out a chair and he sat down with a puzzled expression on his face. "When I first heard that the _Defiant_ was diverted to the Dark Nebula I became extremely concerned," she told him. "Major combat operations were supposed to be a thing of the past for awhile… I certainly don't want to lose you now."

"What's so important about right now?" he wondered, taking a piece of bread and beginning to spoon some of the food onto his plate. He studied her eyes first, then the dark spots that speckled both sides of her beautiful Trill face before finally completing his appreciation of her features by taking in the full view of her – including the short dark hair that kept her looking attractive but professional as Deep Space Nine's Counselor. "You wanted to be certain I was back for the official entry of Bajor into the Federation, is that it?"

"No," she chided him. Her eyes flashed downward to glance at her own plate and then quickly back upward to meet his. "We've been through an awful lot together, and it would simply have been tragic if something had happened to you before I was able to tell you that you're going to be a father." She smiled warmly at him. "That's all."

Julian sat stunned for a moment with his fork halfway up to his mouth. A piece of beef fell off of it and splattered sauce all over the table and onto his uniform. "A father – _me_?" he gasped in shock before smiling with delight at the idea. "Do you mean to tell me that there are now _three_ of you in that body?" he grinned.

"_Four_," she said, nearly knocking him over backward in his seat with mere words alone. "We're having twins, honey."

* * *

Odo stopped in front of the open airlock to his ship and turned back to face General Kira one final time before leaving on his trip back to the gamma quadrant. He motioned to the two Jem'Hadar following them and they nodded briskly before wandering ahead into the ship. Smiling at his good friend Kira Nerys, Odo hugged her warmly and then kissed her… one of the few things that he had truly missed doing during his time in the gamma quadrant. While linked with his people he was sincerely happy, but that feeling of being an individual – and the uniqueness that went with it – had really grown on him. He hadn't realized just how much so until coming back and spending a few days at his old stomping grounds. 

"We've said good bye before," Kira said, the disappointment in her voice quite obvious.

"Ah but this time it's different," Odo told her. "You will see me again soon."

"What do you mean?" she asked with puzzlement. "Your people _need_ you Odo."

"_Needed_ is a better word," he decided, running his fingers over her shoulders and gently massaging her neck. "My people can transfer all kinds of information – emotions, knowledge, experiences – much faster through our linking process than with mere words alone. They have learned what they have needed to know." He paused, glancing toward the airlock wistfully and then back at her. "It's going to be difficult, but I'm going home to say good bye to them and then I'm coming back here. If you'll have me I would like to live with you on Bajor."

Kira's jaw dropped in shock. "_Live with me_? Odo… all I have is a crappy two-room apartment near the military headquarters. You'd _hate_ it there."

"Then we'll get something bigger Nerys," he said simply.

She watched him carefully, but his expression was as serious and emotionless as always. "Odo, that sounds an awful lot like a proposal to me. Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Yes, I am actually," Odo said a bit awkwardly. "With all the diplomacy and work we've been doing, I haven't had time to review official Bajoran customs yet, but you can be sure that the issue will be remedied by the time I return to the station."

Are you _serious_ Odo?" she asked. "How will your government function without you? They've been relying an awful lot on you and your knowledge of the solids since the war ended."

"My people _know_ what needs to be done," he said fiercely. "It's simply a matter of us making the effort that is needed to see that the firm hand of the Dominion officially dissolves. And with the wormhole nearby, they also know what will happen if they _don't_ behave." A wry grin appeared on his face. "If I have to go home now and then for a short visit to spank them I'm sure you'll be able to spare a runabout."

"A runabout?" She grinned at him with delight. "If you're officially choosing to come and live on Bajor, I'll take you home for visits as often as you like in the _Defiant_!"

"Well… unless you've found someone else since I've been gone?"

Kira laughed delightfully. "You've got to be kidding Odo." She shook her head elatedly. "I guess I've been a soldier in Bajor's military for too long. Ever since the war started you were the only one I've ever been able to connect with for any serious type of long-term romantic relationship. I simply haven't had time for even a part time social life."

"You haven't said yes yet," Odo pointed out.

Kira cast a wry smile at the station's former constable. "_Yes_ Odo, I will marry you."

They both laughed for a moment and then simply gazed into each other's eyes as they had done so many times in the past. "Tell me," Odo said. "How is the female Founder doing… the one who led the invasion of the alpha quadrant? For her the agony must be nearly unbearable. She was active in my people's link for almost her entire existence, and then suddenly that freedom was taken from her."

"I'm told she isn't very happy," Kira replied. "Considering all the deaths her attack on the alpha quadrant caused, she has a lot to think over while stranded here. I doubt that the Federation will _ever _let her go. Like the upper echelon of the former Cardassian government that they still have locked up, she is probably going to be in prison for the rest of her life. Gul Mullis has emphatically stated that he doesn't want the Cardassian military leaders released – there's just too much of a chance that they would try to stir up trouble again on a world that's already seen enough trouble." Kira shook her head. "I used to think Bajor's problems were the worst in the galaxy – but there's been way too much killing everywhere else these past few years."

"Thankfully we're _both_ in a position now to do something about that," Odo commented. "Years ago when I served as Deep Space Nine's constable, I never imagined that I would ever find my people – let alone rise to a leadership position among them." He glanced over his shoulder at the waiting airlock. "I'd better be going Nerys."

"Good bye Odo," Kira told him.

"Until we meet again," he said gallantly before kissing her gently one last time. Bowing respectfully he turned and headed offthrough the airlock to board his Dominion cruiser.

"I'll see you soon Odo," she whispered as she watched him go. "Please hurry back…"

* * *

William Riker was seated at the desk in his quarters on the _Enterprise_ when his door chimed. Curious, he pushed aside the pile of report pads he was working on and hollered out "_Come in_!" as loudly as was polite. They still called it paperwork, even though most of it was electronic these days. He chuckled at the data forms he was expected to fill out for Starfleet and the list of mission reports he had yet to file. Being a First Officer meant that he wrote a lot of them, but it also allowed him the freedom to step onto brave new worlds and have the kind of adventures that most people only dreamed about. As he sat for a moment deep in thought he decided that he wouldn't change his life for anything. 

A pair of female arms appeared from behind him and hands suddenly covered his eyes. He smelled a woman's perfume and felt a soft body press against his. _Well_, he decided silently. _Perhaps there was one _person_ that he would consider changing his life for_. "Hello Deanna," he said with a wry smile. "And if you're _not_ Counselor Deanna Troi, all I ask is that you make certain that she never hears about what happens in here tonight."

"Aren't you the beast?" she said playfully, removing her hands from his eyes and smacking him across the back of his head. Her next move was to lean over his shoulder and let her long dark hair fall across the front of his chest.

"If a beast is what you want…" he decided, reaching up with his arms and pulling her down alongside him. "Then I can arrange that." He kissed her passionately and they held each other for more than a few minutes. With one hand he stroked her hair affectionately and studied the expression on her face. "The bridge crew tells me you were quite the ace at tactical," he told her. "Your phaser targeting on those power domes was virtually perfect – just enough to disable them without causing any catastrophic secondary explosions."

"You and Worf are both excellent teachers," she said with a small smile. "I can see why you still get together when he's available to train on the holodeck."

He continued to watch her curiously. "What's wrong Deanna?"

"Oh nothing really…" she hesitated, then decided to actually follow the advice she so often gave to others. "Okay… to be honest I was a bit flustered when I found out that Betazed was one of the planets that the Guardians had targeted for conquest."

"No…" Riker mused, watching her reaction. "I think you were upset because it's quite possible that your planet was most likely going to be the _first_ target hit after Deep Space Nine. It's closer to the Dark Nebula than Vulcan is and the Guardians no doubt wanted to capture your peoples' telepathic abilities to support their invasion."

"That plan of theirs was hideous," she said. "It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it." They stood up but held each other for a few minutes longer. "What would my people have turned into if they had been infiltrated by the Guardians?"

Riker smiled. "I think a better question would be: How long would it have taken your mother to sense the people planning evil on your planet and send the Guardians packing?" She laughed at his joke and found herself working her way past the residual fear within.

* * *

Admiral Janeway stopped by the Infirmary and the Bajoran nurse on duty waved her in. "I'm here to see Tuvok," she said, and the nurse pointed toward a bed at the far end of the room. She could see her former Vulcan tactical officer lying quietly there and he turned as he recognized her voice. 

"It is good to see you again Admiral," he said with the expressionless sincerity typical of a Vulcan. "I trust that all has gone well for you?"

"Many thanks due to you Mr. Tuvok," Kathryn told him as she sat down on the end of his bed. "I'm told that there's nothing serious wrong with you, but Dr. Bashir does want to hold you a few more days for observation."

Tuvok nodded and looked straight up at the ceiling. "The confinement is regrettable but necessary," he told her. "After returning from the Colonies and mind melding with Ensign Baker, the alien consciousness that I merged with left some rather unpleasant after effects."

She picked up his hand with both of hers and held it firmly, noting that his mental barriers were in place well enough to shield him from her unexpected physical contact. "You've melded with quite a few unique personalities over the years, my friend. If it's going to threaten your mental health in this manner then perhaps you shouldn't do it any more."

"I think that you will agree this was a necessary risk," he told her. "We had to get information to you as quickly as possible." He continued staring at the Infirmary's ceiling rather than her. "In a sense, only I know what kind of alien mind the Guardians truly possess. The consciousness I contacted was astonishingly cold and emotionless. It had access to all of Ensign Baker's knowledge and experience, but retrieving his memories was the simple act of accessing a database to it. Those that have transferred themselves from one body to another are no longer capable of feeling emotion in the way that we do. You and I both feel emotion – I suppress them while you express yours. The Guardians, by contrast, feel absolutely nothing. They are driven only by a cold, arrogant lust for power that was already present within them prior to their transfer to an alpha quadrant body." He paused. "At least… that's what I sensed from the Guardian that I touched minds with. They do not care about anything other than expanding their influence."

"Do they truly feel anything at all?"

"Yes, but their transfer of consciousness damages areas of the host's brain that would normally allow it to feel positive emotions such as love, compassion, honor and loyalty." He paused, remembering the events of his meld with Ensign Baker clearly. "I think the transfer process is deliberately flawed in this manner to keep the Guardians loyal. If they can't feel anything positive toward the people they interact with, then there would be little temptation for them to ever even consider betraying their leaders. Once they figured out how to transfer themselves into the minds of one species, modifying those devices to account for the subtle differences between other races in the alpha and beta quadrants would be quite simple."

Janeway gently placed his hand back down on the bed. "Believe me, from what we found in the Dark Nebula it _was_ quite simple. After you're feeling better, would you please prepare a brief report for me and describe what you felt during that meld?" she asked. "There will be people back home that will question our battle plan and ask why we didn't pursue our normal avenue of diplomacy. A first hand account like yours – even if it isn't information officially recognized within a court room – will be a big help in quieting the critics of our aggressive move to strike before they had time to expand out of the nebula."

"I will do so Admiral. I should also mention that Chakotay remained behind in the colonies for now but asked me to wish you well. He plans to continue assisting the people there, many of which lost loved ones during this crisis. I would ask that you do not forget to mention all the helpless civilian victims that were seized and experimented on in your own report." He took a deep breath and she could tell that he was still a bit fatigued.

"I will let you rest my friend," she told him. "When you're up and around there's an opening on my staff back at Starfleet Command." She gave him her best Kathryn Janeway smile. "I'd love to have you back on my team, Tuvok. And from what I've observed here in the Infirmary, you seem to need someone to take care of you."

"I will strongly consider accepting Admiral," he said. She could tell by how bluntly he ignored her jest that he was indeed feeling better.

* * *

Picard was on his way back to the _Enterprise_ when he spotted yet another familiar face in the large crowd still dominant on the Promenade. He tugged on his jacket to make certain it looked its finest and then approached her with a big smile. 

"Ro Laren… it's _good_ to see you back on Bajor." He glanced toward one of the large windows and its view of outer space. "Well, almost back anyway."

"Thank you Captain," she said. Ro was dressed in lightly colored civilian clothing and still had the familiar bright red ribbon running through her dark hair. "We were isolated for so long that I haven't had time to visit home in a while." She smiled wistfully. "Since I heard that there was a peace conference going on anyway, your friend Chakotay suggested that I take a close up look at Deep Space Nine. He said it can be quite a place when there are enough people on board and I have to say – it certainly is extraordinary."

The Captain slowly surveyed the thriving marketplace, happy people, and sounds of celebration. "Yes I have to admit this is quite a turnaround from my first visit to this station." He shook his head at the memory. "The Cardassians had just left Bajor and they destroyed virtually everything before they departed."

"I sincerely hope that things settle down for awhile," Ro decided. She watched Picard raise an eyebrow at her, and grew immediately defensive. "I _know_ I'm not the type of person to just sit around and admire the scenic view, but after a few years of utter chaos I guess you could say I've grown to appreciate life's quieter moments a bit more."

"If you _ever_ wish to return to Starfleet Laren, I'm very certain that we could arrange something," Picard told her. "You certainly haven't let a black mark or two on your record stop you before."

"So far helping out in the Colonies has been just what I needed," she decided. "You know that I will always consider the _Enterprise_ crew my family, but I really think things are better this way. If I fly off the handle and have one of my tantrums on the colonies, I'm just another loud-mouthed person. It's a lot tougher to get court martialed when you're a civilian."

The Captain laughed heartily at her humor and she smiled back at him. Behind them a huge group of customers continued to crowd the bar as everyone again shouted "_Dabo_!" Ro carefully watched Quark's latest reaction to yet another win by Commander Data and continued to laugh.

"Data has been doing that all evening," she told him. "He does lose a few rounds, but he is definitely beating the house tonight. If he ever wants to teach classes in statistical probability I think he would do as good a job as anyone."

They visited for a few moments longer until the Captain's Comm-badge suddenly chirped for attention. Nodding respectfully at Ro, Picard warmly shook her hand. "Take care of yourself Laren," he told her. "Live a good life in Ropal City or wherever else you end up settling down."

"I will," she promised him before disappearing back into the crowd.

"Picard here," the Captain said as he touched his Comm-badge.

"_Captain, this is Commander LaForge from the_ Enterprise," Geordi began. Moving to a vacant corner of the room Picard did his best to get away from the overwhelming noise of the celebration surrounding him. "_I was up on the bridge making some last minute adjustments before we officially begin dismantling the armor technology. While I wasworking we received a high priority transmission from Captain Harry Kim on the_ Rhode Island."

"Let me guess," Picard said dryly. "We have another crisis on our hands."

"_Not exactly, but I think you'll want to view this message for yourself as soon as possible_." Picard was already turning to head back to the _Enterprise _when Geordi continued. "_I also think you should bring Ambassador Le'letha along, since this concerns her too_."

* * *

_Does anyone see those final two words yet? The ones that are spelled T-H-E E-N-D? You may see them spelled out, but they're not officially words yet! Please tune in again next week at the same time at which point Chapter 20 will be posted to officially conclude this on-line novel!_

_After that, my personalized version of "Star Trek" will ALSO fly off into the nearest sunset... but not BEFORE!_


	20. The Most Important Thing

**FINAL NOTES:** _Thanks to everyone who has taken time out of their busy schedule to read this story, and a particular extra special hat's off to Le'letha, a GREAT Trek fan from who has made certain I get a thorough review each and every week since very early on in this story! Also many thanks to Commander Thire, my pal and administrator of the new "ColonialOne dot com" fan fiction website. I personally hope that the Trek universe comes back to life in some way, shape or form down the road a bit, but if it doesn't then we've had one heckuva run! That being said, here is the conclusion to "Absolution"…_

**DISCLAIMER:** _The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come._

**Star Trek: Absolution**

_I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres._

**Chapter XX: The Most Important Thing…**

_Captain's Log, Supplemental. I am extremely pleased to report that the _Enterprise_ refit has been completed on schedule. All of the exterior armor enhancements to our shielding and our industry-sized replicators have been efficiently removed from the ship's hull by Commander Hazelton's work crews. We are preparing to leave Deep Space Nine for our next exploratory assignment after I meet with Bajor's new Ambassador Le'letha one last time._

_Admiral Janeway has already said her good byes to the crew. Less than an hour ago she boarded the U.S.S. _Serenity_ en route to Breen where she will promptly roll up her sleeves and continue to address the latest ongoing crisis there. Having plenty of diplomatic experience of my own, I don't envy her the task ahead. Our mutual friend Admiral Nechayev has spent her entire career working closely with the Cardassians, and that tree planted so long ago is just now beginning to finally bear fruit. The Breen problem appears as though it will take at least as long. However, having fully witnessed Kathryn Janeway in action these past few weeks I have no doubt that her formidable leadership skills will work just as effectively here at home as they did while her ship and crew were stranded in the delta quadrant._

_I continue to receive applications from many of the humanoid and arboreal Xindi. Now that their involvement with the Federation continues to grow, many of them have toured our starships while docked at DS9 and have expressed continued interest in officially joining Starfleet. Since the three Xindi species allied with us have followed Bajor's lead and also applied for joint Federation membership, I am optimistically looking forward to attending additional peace celebrations in our near future. They are a wonderful people to know, and my hope is that their many positive contributions throughout our recent crisis will finally allow the remaining critics back on Earth to finally forgive them for the centuries old attack on Earth.

* * *

_

Tasha stepped cautiously into the Captain's ready room with a bit of anxiety on her face, unsure what to expect. She had been told only that the _Rhode Island_'s Captain had made contact with Picard – the details of their conversation were unknown to her. Picard was seated at his desk and he smiled at her as she entered and motioned for her to sit down.

"Captain Kim's crew has been sorting through the remains of the shuttle that you escaped in to see if they can find anything useful in the debris," the Captain told her. "As they were doing so their engineering crew made an unexpected discovery – one that I think you will be very interested in hearing more about."

"What do you mean?" Tasha wondered. "The vessel I stole was a prison warden's personal cruiser. I doubt that there was anything of military value aboard…"

The Captain leaned intently forward across his desk and she fell silent. "Tell me," he said. "While you were escaping from the Neutral Zone, do you remember receiving any subspace messages?" His half smile puzzled her. "Do you remember being hailed by anybody?"

"Of course," she decided. "I ran into enemy ships several times along the way – and some of them were able to detect my cloak. It's not as efficient a design as the ones on the larger warbirds, but it served its purpose well enough for my journey." She tried as hard as she could to remember the chain of events. "I was contacted several times before they began firing at me and I simply ignored them. I was busy trying to fly that thing all by myself… not exactly in the mood to hear them repeatedly promise me that I would live if I surrendered quietly."

Picard picked up a data pad and reviewed the information on it. "Captain Kim's report indicates that you _were_ hailed… a number of times as it turns out. The Romulans made several attempts to contact you and give you the option to surrender, and even though you personally chose to ignore those messages the main computer on the Romulan ship you stole recorded each and every one of them."

"So?" Tasha said politely. "I still don't see what that has to do with anything."

Picard's response was to swivel the monitor of his work station toward her. He activated the imaging system and she watched a burst of static appear on the screen. "Captain Kim found a second message piggy-backed along with one of those transmissions," he pointed out to her. "I've been involved with several covert operations involving the Romulan home world, and this is one of the methods we've used several times before to communicate back and forth with our agents there. Usually we use active subspace transmissions at prescheduled intervals but the sender obviously knew that this one would automatically be archived by your ship's computer."

The monitor's image cleared up and she could see what appeared to be the small, ramshackle living quarters typical of one of the poorer neighborhoods on Romulus. In the foreground stood an elderly gentleman who – at first glance appeared to be Romulan – but quickly confirmed to her that he was not.

"_Greetings Tasha Yar_," the man said with bold confidence. "_I am Ambassador Spock of Vulcan. Years ago I journeyed to Romulus in an attempt to begin working with the Romulan underground. It is composed of many people – those who are quite weary of the elitist class system in place here that allows a privileged few to live a life of luxury while the majority of the people dwell in poverty. In addition to establishing a more equitable government for everyone in the Empire, the underground also seeks to someday reestablish contact with their Vulcan ancestors in the Federation. During the time I have spent here my life has been in constant danger… but the results of my long-term efforts during those years have so far been just as equally satisfying. I first learned of your story from a low-ranking staff member who works for a Romulan Senator. He is part of the underground and told me your story… the one about the human woman who was brave enough to cross time itself in order to save the Federation from a brutal war. He also informed me that you were no threat to Romulan security but that your freedom had been taken away simply because certain Senators in authority wanted to make certain Starfleet never discovered your presence. Needless to say, we discussed the situation and decided to do something about that_…"

Picard reached out and briefly paused the recording as he smiled at Tasha. "You told Counselor Troi that you never expected to have a second opportunity to try and escape. Well… I guess sometimes there is more going on around us than we may at first glance realize." He tapped the work station and resumed the playback of Spock's message.

"_Our underground movement has operatives everywhere, particularly in the Empire's prison system. Periodically our comrades are discovered and captured, then sentenced to life in prison. Many of them are held captive on the penal colonies – just like the one where you were imprisoned. The warden who governs the territory containing your colony is a brutal man with no tolerance for new ideas. Thus he is extremely antagonistic toward our dissident friends who have the misfortune to be discovered and captured. We therefore set in motion a plan to not only discredit him, but also to give you the chance you needed to escape from your confinement and safely reach the Federation. The women he was consorting with during your escape attempt are also dissidents working for our organization. Romulan ale is a powerful beverage by itself, but combined with a mild sedative it works even more wonders on people who indulge too much. If you receive this message, it is because you have safely made your way back into Starfleet's hands and thereby earned yourself a new chance at true freedom. I wish I could say the outlook was as positive here, but both the resentment of the class system and the rebellious nature of the underground are rapidly growing beyond our ability to control. Things are going to get much worse here before they get better, simply because many of the lower labor classes in this star system have access to some of the Empire's most sophisticated weaponry. It is quite possible that the Romulan Empire will decay into civil war. If that happens, I will be forced to retreat farther into hiding and this is quite possibly my last chance to communicate with Starfleet for some time. Change will not come easily to Romulus but it will come – the benefits of long-term peace and logic are blatantly obvious to all but the most stubborn. However, those who are currently in charge will seek to remain in charge and that does not bode well for us. The time is coming when they will more actively seek to destroy us, and we will have no choice but to resist in whatever manner possible_." Spock paused for a moment to spread the fingers of his right hand in the traditional Vulcan salute. "_Live long and prosper in your new home Tasha Yar, and please pass along that message to my friends with whom I served so many years in Starfleet_."

She watched the screen go blank with astonishment. "They _helped_ me to escape?"

"It would appear so," said Picard with a self-satisfied grin. "Who knows how many people on those prison colonies are secretly working for Spock's dissident movement. I would imagine that a great many of the guards and other employees stationed there probably resent the assignment and may secretly be sympathetic to his cause. I have had some experience with Ambassador Spock and I can tell you he is as logically efficient as our own Mr. Data. If he felt the time was right to discredit that warden, I'm certain it was because he was fully confident that a suitable replacement with sympathies toward his underground was already in place and the most likely appointee."

"All this time I've been thinking that they were so stupid and I was so clever," Tasha said with a shake of her head. "This underground must cover its tracks very well – I was privy to much of the prison gossip and I have never even _heard_ of this secret society."

"They have no choice but to proceed slowly and cautiously," Picard told her as they both stood up and he firmly shook her hand one last time. "I thought that you would like to know the truth before beaming down to Bajor and starting your new life."

"Thank you Captain," she said, smiling warmly at him before turning and heading back out toward the bridge. "I _will_ keep in touch – you haven't heard the last of me."

"On that particular issue, no one believes you more than I do…" Picard whispered softly.

* * *

Commander Data was running the evening shift when she emerged from the ready room and he quickly stood up from his position in the Captain's seat and assigned the on-duty tactical officer to take over. "I will escort you to the transporter room," he told her.

They stepped into a turbolift and the doors closed behind them. "Thanks for coming after me on that planet Data – and for all of the help that you've given me," Tasha told him. "It's nice to know that you're still the most efficient android in Starfleet."

"You are most welcome," Data said with a smirk. "I am also the richest android in Starfleet. I made a killing last night at Quark's."

"I know," Tasha said with a hearty laugh. "I was there… and that Dabo wheel didn't stand a chance against your formidable positronic mind." She gazed wondrously at his gold skin and into his yellow eyes. "I think I liked you better as a human," she commented. "Tell me, was I a good friend of yours in this timeline too… before I died?"

"Yes you were," the android told her. "The _Enterprise-D_ was never the same without you. We still accomplished our missions quite effectively, but it would have been much more comfortable for all of us who knew you if you had stayed around for awhile longer."

"That's great to hear Data," she decided. "I came from a very ugly place."

"Then you should be extremely happy," he told her, "Because you are going to a very beautiful place. I have had the opportunity to visit Bajor on several occasions and it is one of the most beautiful M-Class planets we have on record."

She chuckled a little bit as the turbolift slowed to a stop.

"Perhaps if you visit Bajor again you will take some time to stop by and check in on me," she prompted him.

"Nothing would make me happier," he said, "Although I will have to find someone to look after Spot while I am away."

"Spot?"

"Spot is my cat," Data said proudly. "I told you we were all a bit lonely after your death." He shrugged. "We all cope in different ways I guess."

Tasha didn't stop laughing until they reached the transporter room.

* * *

Jake Sisko sat on the rocky edge of the small stream that trickled near his mother's house and continued to patiently hold the fishing pole in his hands as steady as possible. There was a stiff breeze blowing through the trees behind him, and he was most definitely not a happy camper on windy days where fishing was concerned. Not only was it impossible to keep the line motionless, but the extra current in the shallow areas tended to stir up too much mud – making it more difficult for the fish to see the lure on the end of his line.

He heard a branch snap behind him and turned to see his young sister standing there. "Momma says lunch is ready," Laura told him sternly. "You're supposed to come in and eat something before the food gets cold."

"Yeah, I'll be right there little sis," Jake decided as he began to reel in the line. This was the first day he had come up empty while fishing in the small stream, and he was fully prepared to blame his failure on the wind if Kasidy noticed and decided to point it out to him.

Over the past week alone he had pulled in a surprising number of the tasty fish that swam in the shallow river. Since Kasidy loved the taste of them she had been cleaning and frying up most of it fresh, but he had noticed her freezing some of the delicious fillets for the coming winter season. Along with some of the potato-like vegetables that grew in her garden the three of them had enjoyed many a pan-fried fish fry together during his short visit to Bajor.

Again he heard someone moving in the woods behind him. "I'll be right there Laura," he repeated, casting his line for one last try. "I'm not going home empty-handed if I don't have to."

"I _promise_ I won't tell anyone."

Jake spun around in surprise at the familiar voice, convinced that he was imagining things. The fishing rod fell to the ground as he stared at the man in the Captain's Starfleet uniform standing before him and a surge of emotion poured through his soul.

"_Dad_!" he shouted gleefully, running toward his father and hugging him with all of his might. Benjamin Sisko embraced his son with the firm squeeze of a father who had gone too long without holding his child. Taking a step back, he glanced up at the tall form of his son and was truly convinced that he had been away for much longer than was reasonable. He could not believe how mature Jake looked – the growing, fresh young man he had left behind was now a bona-fide adult.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you son…"

"I know – me too Dad, _me too_!" Jake gasped, tears running from his eyes. "I know I'm supposed to be old enough to control my emotions, but it was _terrible_ for Kasidy and me – we didn't know if we would ever see you again."

Gripped by unchecked emotion, Ben pulled his son close to him again and hugged him for a second time. "I know an apology will never do, but that's all I have for you and Kasidy," he said. "There were a lot of things still wrong with the alpha quadrant when I left, but so much has changed since then you would not believe it."

"I don't _care_," Jake said, a little bit too angrily. "How could you do that to me? _To Kasidy_?" He turned his back on his Dad for a moment and let the anger flow through him, then spun back to face him. "Do you even know you have a daughter… that her name is Laura?"

The Captain's expression became grim. "Jake, there are some things that you need to understand about the situation…"

"_Why_?" Jake demanded. "What could be more important than your own family?"

"_Nothing, dammit!_ _Nothing is more important than my family_!" Sisko thundered, causing his son to grow momentarily quiet. "But there was a great deal of pure evil happening on Bajor when I left Deep Space Nine on that last day. I willingly accepted the role of their emissary and had an obligation to try and stop it so I did. But in the process of doing so I fell off a cliff face and into a deep chasm. I would be dead now if it weren't for the Prophets – they saved me."

"_The Prophets_!" Jake said furiously. "You and I _both_ know they're just wormhole aliens Dad. They're _not_ gods."

"Yes they are," Sisko insisted, placing a firm hand on Jake's shoulder. "To the people of Bajor they are. Jake – I want you to calm down while I explain a few things. Those wormhole aliens look after Bajor… they care for this planet and its people as well as they possibly can. To the people of this planet they _are_ gods – that is the religion these people choose to practice and believe in." He stood next to his son and waved a hand at the sunny blue sky, trees and the rapidly flowing stream. "Just as Earth has its own God and faith-based belief systems, these people worship the Prophets. It is not for us to judge what is right or wrong in the universe – we each have our own personal beliefs and the Bajorans also have theirs."

Jake stood silently for a moment, considering the points his father had made. He continued to fight back waves of surging emotion. "_Why_ did they make you stay Dad?"

"It was an exchange son. They _saved_ my life and in return they asked me to stay and help them learn more about linear time. They needed to know more about how we live our lives and the manner in which our actions have consequences – both negative and positive. I knew it would be difficult and that it would take time – that's why I contacted Kasidy and let her know I was going to be gone for awhile."

Jake picked up his fishing rod and looked up at the sky with an expression of anger. "Somehow I think the wormhole aliens were planning all along for your stay with them to be a permanent one."

"You are correct… they were. But _not_ any longer," the Captain told him. "Not after they really started to catch on to how life in this universe works. As we live our lives and watch the people around us, we learn from them and our own experiences. The longer we live the more enlightened we grow. That is the biggest point I tried to get across to them… that _long-term observation_ of our species and patience is all that is needed in order for them to understand more about us. No matter how hard they try, they can't find a way to speed up that process. Even with all of their abilities, it simply doesn't work."

The younger Sisko placed his fishing rod over one shoulder and thought about his father's comments for a moment. "Isn't that what they've been doing all these years… observing Bajor?"

"No," Ben said, shaking his head negatively. "Prior to their first contact with us, the Prophets had no clear concept of linear time. It was completely alien to them, and all they saw when they viewed this universe was everything happening all at once." He remembered vividly the memories that they had shared with him. "Alternate timelines, other universes, years and years of experiences all packed together into a single burst of information – everything they perceived about us was completely incomprehensible to them. Until Dax and I entered the wormhole for the first time their efforts at communicating with Bajor were considered to be failures. They tried different methods for centuries… bringing others into the wormhole, sending the orbs to interact with the Bajorans – none of that worked well enough to satisfy their need for accurate information."

"I know," Jake replied, thinking carefully about the situation. "You used to tell me how difficult it was to communicate with them. They just couldn't grasp how things worked in our reality." He smiled a little. "I've been writing a biography of your life and that has been the toughest thing to explain so far… your perception of the wormhole aliens."

"I remember the first time that I encountered them," said Sisko thoughtfully. "They made the best effort they could at initial communication by letting my own memories cycle through my mind and then bringing them to life." He grinned. "I even tried to explain the game of baseball to them, rules and all."

"How _long _did that take?" wondered Jake. "Baseball is a complicated sport."

Sisko pointed at his son for emphasis. "_That_ is exactly what I taught them these past few years… how long the learning curve about us really is. You and I both studied baseball by observing the games as children, then picking up the rules here and there on a gradual basis or by asking questions. Since we were involved in many games over the years, we continued to gradually gain additional experience and learned to play baseball better and better. The Prophets spent years trying to argue with me about that point, but they never could find a better way. For anyone who wants to know more about us, it is simply easier to do so by first grasping the concept of linear time and then observing events as they unfold. Their old method of viewing the past, present and future all at once quite simply never told them anything useful."

The concerned expression on Jake's face clearly showed how concerned he was. "Are they going to make you go back?" he asked. "Or do you get to stay with us?"

Benjamin Sisko hugged his son again and sighed with relief. "My debt to them has been paid son. They saved my life, and in return I taught them a better method of observing us and learning more about our life outside the wormhole. Their initial plan was to keep me on a permanent basis, but I made certain to demonstrate to them how limited our lifetimes are and that _the most important thing in our lives here is our family_. I think they've finally started to truly understand the sacrifice they were asking of me as each day I spent there passed." He looked Jake firmly in the eyes. "Your Dad is home son… _this time to stay_."

Jake sighed with relief and continued asking his father questions as they walked back toward the house. He found himself completely astonished at the vivid details and descriptions that Ben had witnessed during his time in the wormhole's Celestial Temple. His mind was racing at the countless new possibilities suddenly available to him for his biography now that his father was actually available for direct interviews. He was still reviewing all of those wondrous new options when Kasidy and Laura suddenly burst forth from a group of trees. Kasidy's eyes widened and she stared at the two of them with complete shock.

"Ben?" Kasidy continued to look astonished for a few seconds as she recognized him and then suddenly sprinted forward to embrace her husband. They kissed passionately for a moment and tears streamed from Kasidy's eyes as she tried to somehow hug away all the time that she had spent alone. "Oh thank goodness you've come back to us Benjamin! We've missed you… oh you have no idea how much we've missed you!"

Grinning, Ben glanced down at the little girl standing in the background. "Who have we got here?" he asked with a warm chuckle. "You must be Laura."

"And _you're_ my Daddy!" she said, running over to him and hugging his leg.

Continuing to smile with delight, Ben picked the little girl up and looked into her soft brown eyes. "What a beautiful young lady you are," he said. "And you even know who I am."

"Momma has lots of pictures of you," Laura told him. "She shows them to me all the time. She said you were coming back… just didn't know when."

"How long?" Kasidy said with great trepidation. "How long do you get to stay before they take you from us again?"

"My role as emissary of the Prophets and my duties as a Starfleet officer have all been completed," Benjamin Sisko said proudly as he held young Laura in one arm. He wrapped his other arm around Jake and Kasidy and pulled everyone close to him. "I'm not going anywhere this time… I'm going to stay right here and live a happy life on Bajor with my family."

Together, they walked out of the sunlit grove and into the shadow-filled trees. They emerged on the far side of the tree line and slowly headed back toward the small but elegant house waiting for them in the distance.

"Jake got skunked fishing today," Ben cautiously whispered to Kasidy.

"You promised not to tell on me," grinned Jake, punching his father in the shoulder.

"Well there you go," the elder Sisko decided. "Next time catch some fish then… at least that way you won't make a liar out of your old man."

* * *

**THE END!**

_Thanks again for reading everybody!_


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